Alwayswriteagain

‘This Is The I.D.F., G’veret Wood!’

2012-01-26T21:59:00.001+02:00

With quips about ‘Private Benjamin’ aimed at me and wisecracks about ‘Sergeant Bilko’ chucked back at him, today my husband and I spent time with women soldiers from the Israel Defence Forces Education Corps.

We were among other immigrants living in Karmiel, Lower Galilee, who have settled in Israel via the Nefesh B’Nefesh ‘Go North Project’.

The soldiers were led by a young, gun-toting woman officer whose mother is part of the NBN Go North team. The women we met are English teachers whose students have a chance to complete neglected school studies while serving in the military.

We saw a film describing their work and their students who often come from underprivileged backgrounds and who for various reasons are unable to complete conventional schooling. The education the recruits acquire may also help them to gain employment more easily in civilian life after they leave the army.

We discovered further that some non-Jewish recruits may decide to become Jewish and the army helps them with their conversion course. Also highlighted was the teachers’ work among Ethiopian recruits who are anxious to integrate into mainstream Israeli society.

After the film, we native English=speaking immigrants had a chance to swap notes with the soldiers, relating our experience of learning Hebrew as a foreign language. The event, most appropriately, was held at the local Yad Lebanim (literally ‘Memorial To the Children’) centre. There are many such centres dotted about Israel, dedicated by bereaved families to local young men and women who have died serving in the I.D.F.

Later we enjoyed a guided walk through Karmiel led by the city’s recently appointed official tourist officer.

As my husband has said: “Each one (of the women soldiers) is truly an eishet chayil – ‘woman of valour’. The I.D.F. doesn't do princess!”

Further details about the work of the I.D.F. Education Corps is available at: http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/units/branches/human/education/default.htm.

The website states:

“The Education and Youth Corps mediates between the IDF and the Israeli public. It exhibits to the public the IDF's readiness to invest in national projects, such as instilling various educational values, the integration of new immigrants in the IDF, progression of new communities, and more. Within the Army, the corps teaches the values that the IDF and Israeli society wish the youth to emulate; the tradition and history of the Jewish nation, battle history of the IDF, military unit history, etc.”

Technorati Tags: IDF,Education Corps,Nefesh B'Nefesh,Go North Project,Karmiel,Israel,Yad Lebanim,Karmiel Tourist Office

msniw

At Last: The Real J Edgar Hoover Stands Up

2012-01-25T07:55:00.001+02:00

Article first published as Movie Review: J. Edgar on Blogcritics

“To Mr Lawrence”

By John Milton,

     Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire,

       Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire

       Help waste a sullen day; what may be won

From the hard season gaining? Time will run

       On smoother, till Favonius re-inspire

       The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire

       The lily and rose, that neither sow'd nor spun.

What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,

       Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise

       To hear the lute well touch'd, or artful voice

Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air?

       He who of those delights can judge, and spare

       To interpose them oft, is not unwise.”

Hoover: Repressed Gay Ogre Or Astute Celibate Devoted to U.S. Security?

J Edgar Hoover hated communists, blacks and Jews and simply loathed Lithuanian-born Jewish anarchist Emma Goldman whom he had deported to Russia in 1919 although she was a U.S. citizen.

But the two were curiously conjoined - both by American history and their polar-opposite politics: Goldman’s anarchism was inspired by the Chicago Haymarket Riots of 1886 while the future FBI chief’s understandably hysterical and pathological fear of domestic communism stemmed from the Cleveland, Ohio May Day Riots which happened shortly before he threw her out.

Hoover, then head of the U.S. Department of Justice General Intelligence Division, said of Goldman and her lover, Alexander Berkman that they were: “beyond doubt, two of the most dangerous anarchists in this country and return to the community will result in undue harm."

The riots and Goldman’s deportation are among early scenes in J Edgar, the compelling, sometimes unbearably intimate and occasionally sympathetic portrait of Hoover drawn in Clint Eastwood’s new film.

As I saw the movie in Israel before it opened in the U.K. and had read a reasonably positive review in the New York Times, I could not understand why it received no mention at The Golden Globe awards or even one Oscar nomination. Surely, I mused, both Eastwood’s direction and Leonardo DiCaprio’s extraordinary performance as Hoover deserved a prize, despite the film being overlong, some of the prosthetics poor and its non-linear approach often difficult to follow.

Then I discovered why it had been ignored: the majority of critics have denigrated it quite ruthlessly, so smothering it at birth. There has been scant, grudging attention paid to how Eastwood coped with the sweep of almost 80 years of history, encompassing waves of massive social unrest, gangsterism, a world war, the incumbencies of eight U.S. presidents – and how the development of forensics allowed Hoover to create a scientific crime-detection laboratory.

This showed him as a man a half-century before his time, such work resonating today, not only because of DNA profiling (genetic finger-printing) but in arguments over the use of a digitised/biometric National Identity Register – which scheme has just been abandoned in the U.K while in Israel a biometric database of all Israeli citizens is presently under trial.

Four of us watched the film together in Haifa and all of us – three expat British citizens and one expat American - all agreed that we had learned as much about U.S. history as we had about a 'different' Hoover.

All of us had heard the bizarre stories of his homosexual leanings, cross-dressing antics and unwonted attachment to his mother. But none of us swung the personal axes wielded by the professional critics who have also viewed the film.

I contend that if people want an accurate chronological narrative, there are many good documentaries available on television or via the internet. Eastwood has given us a fine if flawed piece of art – not documented history.

The Hoover whom Clint Eastwood presents is not simply a repressed homosexual ogre with a Hitchcockian mother fixation. I believe the director – like me – sees him as an asexual, celibate being with a monkish devotion to his work and whose social release is in his platonic friendship with FBI Associate Director, Clyde Tolson ( Armie Hammer). Nor am I the only one to compare their relationship to those of strictly heterosexual gentlemen of an earlier, more leisured age.

But Eastwood also shows us a man with the sort of acutely unhealthy and overlong grip on power which makes monsters of us all. Like many dictators, the historic Hoover attempted to massage the truth about himself - and like the Nazis he kept meticulous records. But he was cleverer than them. He ordered his devoted secretary, Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) to destroy his personal files when he died. Much of what we (think) we know about the private Hoover is speculation as scholars must rely on a few remaining misfiled papers for evidence.

Have Eastwood and DiCaprio helped the real Hoover to emerge? Yes. But there may be more to come.

Technorati Tags: J Edgar,Film,J Edgar Hoover,Clint Eastwood,Leonardo DiCaprio,Helen Watts,Armie Hammer,John Milton,'Mr Lawrence'

msniw

How Tiny Israel Triumphs Over Huge Adversity

2012-01-23T19:56:00.001+02:00

First there was Paul Newman in Exodus, then there was Kirk Douglas in Cast A Giant Shadow. Next came one helluva gap before Spielberg made Munich.

But now, to celebrate Israel’s 64th birthday comes Israel Inside: How a Small Nation Makes a Big Difference - a 55-minute feature length documentary examining an Israel bare of war and politics.

The film makers claim it ”sidesteps the usual conversation of politics, conflict and violence, and tells the story of the Israeli people – whose resilience has propelled Israel to the forefront of world innovation and progress."

“Despite daily challenges ranging from limited resources to security needs, Israeli creativity and inventiveness help make the world a better place; Israel has made significant advancements in the fields of science, environment, medicine and technology, and has shared these developments with the rest of the world.

“How did this happen? What underlying growth factors have given rise to this small nation’s triumph over adversity?

“The film is presented by Harvard University’s Dr. Tal Ben Shahar who explores the core character strengths – called ‘actualizers’ – that enable Israelis to succeed against incredible odds. Through Tal’s eyes we explore the deep-seated values such as education, family and responsibility to the world (a Jewish concept known as tikkun olam), which directly contribute to Israel’s accomplishments in the economic, technological and humanitarian spheres. And while none of these ‘actualizers are unique to Israel, combined they produce an almost unparalleled progress, success and contribution to the world.

“Israel Inside features interviews with leading entrepreneurs, academics, and politicians including Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, U.K. Chief Rabbi Jonathan Lord Sacks, Sir Martin Gilbert, Professors Alan Dershowitz and Jacob Frankel, Tamar Jehuda-Cohen, and Shai Agassi.”

Israel Inside was produced by Rabbis Raphael Shore and Richard Green and was made in conjunction with Jerusalem Online University. Shore is the founder of Jerusalem Online and has produced two other films, Iranium and Obsession.

Now you’ve read the blurb - watch the trailer. I hope that everyone, whether in the Diaspora or Israel itself can celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) this year by watching the real Israel Inside.

Technorati Tags: Israel Innovation,Technology,Tal Ben Shahar,Education,Shai Agassi,Jewish Palestinian Peace

msniw

Why ‘Life Is Beautiful’ For Noa

2012-01-22T17:15:00.001+02:00

A Facebook chum sent me this clip of Israeli singer, Noa (Achinoam Nini) as a birthday treat. How very kind!

Multi-talented Noa (Achinoam Nini)

For readers who do not know of the acclaimed songstress, Noa is also a composer and lyricist who has performed for the Pope (!) and with musical legends like Stevie Wonder and Sting.

Although she was born to Yemenite parents who took her to the U.S.A. when she was aged two, she now lives on the Israeli coast with her husband, Dr Asher Barak and their three children.

A glorious life indeed!.

Technorati Tags: Noa,Israel,Song,Life Is Beautiful

msniw

Why This Clip Is Just My ‘Type’!

2012-01-11T18:01:00.001+02:00

From the guys who brought you ‘organising the bookcase’, comes – quite naturally – re-organising the bookshop! Is this a winter comfort for nerdy control freaks or utter bliss for unreconstructed booklovers? Either way, they’re just my ‘type’! Now watch and enjoy …

The Owner of Type Books, Toronto, Canada says (roughly)

“After organising our bookshelf almost a year ago my wife and I decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at our shop. The music was composed by Grayson Matthews.”

He’s now considering taking on the U.S. Library of Congress. But what about the Bodleian Library or the London Library in the U.K.? Or are such tiny institutions just for knock-kneed weaklings?

Technorati Tags: Type Books,Toronto,Canada,Bodleian Library,London Library,books,joy,reading

msniw

Did They Make Sabbath Bread In Ancient Acco?

2012-01-10T21:43:00.001+02:00

I re-repost with minimal editing, an amazing story proving Jewry’s unbroken link with the land of Israel – even in a town with a largely, if not exclusively, non-Jewish population:

‘Just two weeks after a Temple era seal was displayed to the public, archaeologists continue to dig up breath-taking proofs of the ancient and never-severed connection between Jews and the Land of Israel. This time, the find is a 1,500 year old tiny stamp discovered near the city of Akko (‘Acre’) bearing the image of the seven-branched Temple Menorah.

‘The stamp was used to identify baked products and probably belonged to a bakery that supplied kosher bread to the Jews of Akko in the Byzantine period.

‘The ceramic stamp dates from the Byzantine period (6th century CE) and was uncovered in excavations which the Israel Antiquities Authority is currently conducting at Horbat Uza east of Akko, prior to the construction of the Akko-Karmiel railroad track by the Israel National Roads Company.

‘This find belongs to a group of stamps referred to as “bread stamps” because they were usually used to stamp baked goods.

‘According to Gilad Jaffe and Dr. Danny Syon, the directors of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority: “A number of stamps bearing an image of a menorah are known from different collections. The Temple Menorah, being a Jewish symbol par excellence, indicates the stamps belonged to Jews, unlike Christian bread stamps with the cross pattern which were much more common in the Byzantine period.”

‘There were no Muslims in the region at the time — because the Koran had not yet been written.

‘According to Syon: “This is the first time such a stamp is “discovered in a controlled archaeological excavation, thus making it possible to determine its provenance and date of manufacture. The stamp is important because it proves that a Jewish community existed in the settlement of Uza in the Christian-Byzantine period.

’”The presence of a Jewish settlement so close to Akko – a region that was definitely Christian at this time – constitutes an innovation in archaeological research.”

‘“Due to the geographical proximity of Horbat Uza to Akko, we can speculate that the settlement supplied kosher baked goods to the Jews of Akko in the Byzantine period,” the excavators added.

‘The stamp is engraved with a seven-branched menorah atop a narrow base, and the top of the branches forms a horizontal line. A number of Greek letters are engraved around a circle and dot on the end of the handle. Dr. Leah Di Segni, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem suggested they probably spell out the name Launtius, which was common among Jews of the period and also appears on another Jewish bread stamp of unknown provenance. According to Dr. Syon and Gilad Jaffe, “This is probably the name of the baker from Horbat Uza.”

‘“Horbat Uza is a small rural settlement where clues were previously found that allude to it being a Jewish settlement. These include a clay coffin, a Shabbat lamp and jars with menorah patterns painted on them.

‘Dr. David Amit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who has made a study of bread stamps, added:“A potter engraved the menorah image in the surface of the stamp prior to firing it in a kiln, whereas the owner’s name was engraved in the stamp’s handle after firing. Hence we can assume that a series of stamps bearing the menorah symbol were produced for Jewish bakers, and each of these bakers carved his name on the handle, which also served as a stamp.

‘“In this way the dough could be stamped twice before baking: once with the menorah – the general symbol of the Jewish identity of Jewish bakeries, and again with the private name of the baker in each of these bakeries, which also guaranteed the bakery’s kashrut.”’

With thanks to ‘United With Israel – The Global Movement for Israel’

Technorati Tags: Bread Stamp,Acco,Acre,Temple,Bakery,Menorah,Israel Antiquities Authority,Byzantine,Horbat Uza,Israel National Roads Company,Gilad Jaffe,Dr Danny Syon,Christians,Muslims,Dr Leah Di Segni,Dr Dsvid Amit

msniw

The Influence Of Mrs Thatcher’s First Jewish Friend

2012-01-09T16:32:00.001+02:00

I repost here in full an article that has appeared in this week’s edition of The Jewish Chronicle Online.

“According to journalist Charles Moore, whose biography of Baroness Thatcher will be released only after her death, the former PM considered Jewish values and Conservatism ‘a natural fit’

“Her support for Jewish causes derived, he says, from her interactions as MP for Finchley with Jewish people.

“He also suggests that, as a Methodist, she drew her "raw political and social lessons from the Bible", and emphasised the influence of Edith Muhlbauer, an Austrian Jewish teenager who, in 1938, stayed with the Roberts family in Grantham, after escaping Nazi persecution.

“’It had a significant impact,’ says Mr Moore. ’Edith was probably the first Jew she knew in the personal sense.’

Twenty years later, campaigning in Finchley, she infuriated local Conservatives by standing with the Liberals to fight a golf club's exclusion of Jews.

“Mr Moore says Baroness Thatcher believed that "the Jews were setting a good example. She liked the Jewish approach to looking out for your neighbours, being practical about money, working hard and being family-minded".

“Mr Moore says she was frequently irritated by Anglican leaders "lecturing her on state-ist socialist type solutions to everything. She found people like Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits more congenial in their way of thinking."

“He adds: "The mind-set in Europe now, including Britain, tends to see Israel as basically a problem. She saw it as a good thing - her instinct all the way through was 'thank God Israel is there and we must support' it, rather than 'oh, bloody Israel'."

* Edith, later Mrs Nokelby, was traced to San Paolo, Brazil in 1995. If she is still alive she would now be aged 91. The daughter of a Viennese banker, her contact with the Roberts family had started via a pen-pal friendship with Mrs Thatcher’s elder sister, Muriel.

According to a Jerusalem Post report in May 1995, after Hitler annexed Austria in March 1938. Edith wrote to Muriel in Grantham, England asking if she could give her a home. The Nazis were already rounding up the first of Vienna's 170,000 Jews and she was frightened. The Roberts agreed and 17-year-old Edith arrived with with red handbags for Muriel and Margaret. Mrs Thatcher recalled her as “tall, beautiful, evidently from a well-to-do family."

* In December 2002, the Sha’are Zedek Medical Centre, Jerusalem presented Baroness Thatcher with its Board of Governors’ Ot Hanagid award “in recognition of her staunch support and friendship for the State of Israel and the Jewish People”. The ceremony took place in private at the Embassy of Israel in London.

* It was during her premiership that the Conservative Friends of Israel was born, a move inspired largely by the former Manchester MP, the late Michael Fidler and Soviet Jewry campaigner, Sylvia Sheff. I cannot now recall in which capacity it was that Mrs Sheff invariably made a birthday presentation to the-then P.M. during the annual Conservative Party Conference.

* Charles Moore is another Tory who is eminently ‘good for the Jews’. Some months ago, Moore wrote a charming and affectionate tribute to the late literary critic, John Gross, which showed an almost uncanny comprehension of what it means to be a Jewish English gentleman. I must offer new approval for his decision not to publish his Thatcher biography until after the former P.M.’s death as I consider the current debate about a possible state funeral cruel and inept.

Technorati Tags: Jewish Chronicle Online,Margaret Thatcher,Jews,Israel,Charles Moore,Edith Muhlbauer,Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits,Michael Fidler,Sylvia Sheff,Conservative Friends of Israel,Embassy of Israel,Sha’are Zedek Medical Centre

msniw

Why Dickens Is Well In – One Of The Israeli Fam-ily!

2012-01-07T00:41:00.001+02:00

The Brilliance of Dickens Lives On

Charles Dickens created one of the best known Jewish villains in literary history. So deeply entrenched in the public psyche is the character invented by the novelist and as illustrated by George Cruikshank that people who have never met Jews imagine we all look and think like their conception.

But this won’t stop the British Council Israel from marking the 200th anniversary of Dickens’ birth.

I’m thrilled by this move – not only because the Council strives to promote English language and literature in Israel while so many in the international Arts world simply vilify the Jewish State.

I am particularly enthusiastic because I’ve just watched Roman Polanski’s version of Oliver Twist (for the third time!) on television here in Israel and ache to share the experience with the Bagrut (matriculation) students I meet as a volunteer English teacher at the P’sagot School in Karmiel.

I didn’t much care for Polanski’s film on a first viewing at the cinema. But I now see its power as a fresh piece of art created from Dickens’ original and marvel at Ben Kingsley’s almost sympathetic portrayal of Fagin, especially in the penultimate prison scene.

Perhaps this will be discussed by Jeremy Hamer, an expert in teaching English as a second language and violinist, Steve Bingham when they visit Israel from 11 - 14 February for a series of lectures and also give performances of a musical theatrical show, incorporating some of Dickens’ most famous works.

Meanwhile, school activities throughout Israel will include creative and interactive events, allowing students to study Dickens’ life and work. Teachers will take part in workshops and use resources like prepared lesson plans and short films about famous Dickens’ characters.

As a taster, here’s a previous performance at a Touchable Dreams seminar.

Technorati Tags: Charles Dickens,Bicentennial,Fagin,Oliver Twist British Council Israel,Jeremy Hamer,Steve Bingham,Roman Polanski,Ben Kingsley,English Oral Bagrut,P'sagot School,Karmiel

msniw

Bibi Tells Jewish Girls – Use Your Birthright–Settle In the Jewish State of Israel

2012-01-05T19:44:00.001+02:00

PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the 2012 Taglit Mega-Event

“If you are an oleh/olah this is why you came; if you didn't make aliyah yet, this is why you should!”

No less a wit and sage than my ol’ man posted the above remark on Facebook. Of course Bibi just had to agree.

Technorati Tags: Israel,Taglit Mega-Event,P.M. Benjamin Netanyahu,Birthright,Aliyah

msniw

Israel Forces ‘Sweetheart’ Who Sang To A Different Tune

2012-01-03T20:25:00.001+02:00

She didn’t look a bit like the British Forces’ sweetheart, Vera Lynn - and a good job, too!

Israeli songbird Yaffa Yarkoni, who achieved fame by entertaining Israel’s war-time troops, was an icon of an entirely different calibre.

Not only did Yarkoni disdain her title as “the songstress of the wars” but was most hurt by those who claimed she had built her career on Israel’s military conflicts.

Indeed at the height of the second Palestinian intifada in 2002, Yarkoni scandalised many Israelis when during an interview on Army Radio she criticised the military and expressed empathy for the Palestinians, declaring: “We are a nation that went through the Holocaust. How can we do things like this to another nation?” She then described Israel as “leaderless.” Some even branded her a traitor and one organisation cancelled a planned gala concert in her honour.

Many of her songs became integral to Israeli people’s lives. Here I post the English translation to Hafinjan (The Coffee Pot song) that she warbles in the video clip above. I chose it because Hafinjan was a youth club favourite when I was a kid. Aye, me!

And a ‘finjan’? Well depending on your source, it is either “literally translated from Arabic as ’cup’ and it is understood that it is specifically a coffee cup (http://thefinjan.net/)” or ”in the Levant, a small coffee cup without a handle, such as is held in a cup or stand called a zarf.”

I must thank EBay for this image of an “Antique Copper Bronze Finjan Coffee Pot with three cups 1930s” – so ending with a pot and cups to match!

Readers able to share further light on the issue are invited to share a (free) cuppa coffee or tea with me at the nearest Aroma outlet!

THE COFFEE POT

The cool wind blows,
We'll add a chip to the campfire,
And thus in scarlet
It will rise in the flames like a sacrifice.
The fire flickers,
Its song rises up
The coffee pot spins, spins around.
The fire will whisper to the chip,
Our faces grow so red by the fire
If more fuel is prepared for us
From every broken branch stub in the garden,
Every tree and log
Will sing so softly
The coffee pot spins, spins around.

Technorati Tags: Yaffa Yarkoni,IDF,Army Radio,Second Intifada,'Hafinjan',Arabic,Coffee Pot

msniw

Why We ‘Leica’ More Than We Can Say!

2012-01-02T20:48:00.001+02:00

The Leica is the renowned pioneer 35mm camera - a classic German product - precise, minimalist, and utterly efficient. What is less well-known is that its designer used the same slick, professional technique to rescue hundreds of Jews from Nazi Germany.

Indeed it is said that Ernst Leitz and his family acted with grace, generosity, modesty and extraordinary heroism under the Nazis.

Moreover, the story below tells how Leitz, the designer and manufacturer of Germany 's most famous photographic product, kept forever secret his help for so many of his Jewish fellow countrymen – thus echoing the exploits of Italian champion cyclist, Gino Bartali.

Indeed, “Ernst Leitz II, the steely-eyed Protestant patriarch who headed the closely held firm as the Holocaust loomed across Europe, acted in such a way as to earn the title, "the photography industry's Schindler."

“As soon as Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor =f Germany in 1933, Ernst Leitz II began receiving frantic calls from Jewish associates, asking for his help in getting them and their families out of the country. As Christians, Leitz and his family were immune to Nazi Germany's Nuremberg Laws, which restricted the movement of Jews and limited their professional activities.

“To help his Jewish workers and colleagues, Leitz quietly established the so-called “Leica Freedom Train," a covert means of allowing Jews to leave Germany in the guise of Leitz employees being assigned overseas.

“Employees, retailers, family members, even friends of family members were "assigned" to Leitz sales offices in France, Britain, Hong Kong and the United States. Leitz's activities intensified after the Kristallnacht of November 1938, during which synagogues and Jewish shops were burned across Germany.

“Before long, German "employees" were disembarking from the ocean liner Bremen at a New York pier and making their way to the Manhattan office of Leitz Inc., where executives quickly found them jobs in the photographic industry.

“Each new arrival had around his or her neck the symbol of freedom - a new Leica camera.

“The refugees were paid a stipend until they could find work. Out of this migration came designers, repair technicians, salespeople, marketers and writers for the photographic Press.

“Keeping the story quiet, The "Leica Freedom Train" was at its height in 1938 and early 1939, delivering groups of refugees to New York every few weeks. Then, with the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, Germany closed its borders.

“By that time, hundreds of endangered Jews had escaped to America, thanks to the Leitzes' efforts. How did Ernst Leitz II and his staff get away with it?

“Leitz, Inc. was an internationally recognised brand that reflected credit on the newly resurgent Reich. The company produced cameras, range-finders and other optical systems for the German military. Also, the Nazi government desperately needed hard currency from abroad, and Leitz's single biggest market for optical goods was the United States.

“Even so, members of the Leitz family and firm suffered for their good works. A top executive, Alfred Turk, was jailed for working to help Jews and freed only after the payment of a large bribe.

“Leitz's daughter was imprisoned by the Gestapo after she was caught at the border, helping Jewish women cross into Switzerland. Eventually she was freed but endured rough treatment in the course of questioning. She also fell under suspicion when she attempted to improve the living conditions of up to 800 Ukrainian slave labourers, all of them women, who had been assigned to work in the plant during the 1940s.

“(After the war, Elsie Kuhn-Leitz received numerous honours for her humanitarian efforts, among them the Officier d'Honneur Des Palms Academic from France in 1965 and the Aristide Briand Medal from the European Academy in the 1970s.)

“Why has no one told this story until now? According to Norman Lipton, a freelance writer and editor, the Leitz family wanted no publicity for its heroic efforts. Only after the last member of the Leitz family was dead did the "Leica Freedom Train" finally come to light.

“It is now the subject of a book, The Greatest Invention of the Leitz Family: The Leica Freedom Train by Frank Dabba Smith, a California-born rabbi living in England .

* Rabbi Dabba Smith studied Linguistic Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley, and qualified as a teacher. In 1994 he was ordained as a rabbi at Leo Baeck College, London. He joined Harrow and Wembley Progressive Synagogue ,London, England in 1997, where he had served as assistant rabbi.

He also works as a freelance photographer, and The Economist has published more than 150 of his images. His rabbinical thesis, Photography and the Holocaust, is a critical approach to surveying the use of photography as a communications and propaganda device by all parties involved in the Holocaust.

* I Am a Camera, a play inspired by Christopher Isherwood's novel Goodbye to Berlin, is part of The Berlin Stories. The title is a quote taken from the novel's first page. The Broadway play earned the infamously scathing review by major U.S. theatre critic, Walter Kerr, "Me no Leica".

Technorati Tags: Leica Camera,Ernst Leitz,Gino Bartali,Holocaust,Nazism,Adolph Hitler,Oskar Schindler,Leica Freedom Train,Alfred Turk,Elsie Kuhn-Leitz,Norman Lipton,Frank Dabba Smith,Christopher Isherwood

msniw

English Antisemitism: In A League Of Its Own?

2011-12-31T13:15:00.001+02:00

This is an updated version of an article which has just been published in the online international magazine, Live Encounters. Editor, Mark Ulyseas is an Indian travel writer who supports Israel and all matters Jewish.

They say the English Premier Soccer League is the most lucrative in the world. But what of native antisemitism? That’s surely in a league of its own!

While I often warn against seeing antisemitism where it doesn’t exist, I must stress that it is ever-present. This happens both when there are no Jews in evidence – and even when those spouting anti-Jewish hatred have never knowingly met a Jew throughout their lives.

The situation has become increasingly, depressingly, indecently nasty since Israel’s war in Gaza during December 2008 - January 2009. This, I believe is because it coincided with the start of the world economic recession.

Once again, international Jewry has found itself the world’s scapegoat for money worries. Yet despite fantastic competition from the likes of Sweden, Germany, Italy, Spain - and most recently Belgium, British Jew hatred is now like it was centuries ago.

Certainly, it is the worst it has been since the end of World War II and those old enough to remember say it was present even then – barely before the flames of the Holocaust had been doused or the State of Israel was born.

Now it is a fashion accessory for the politically correct and is so much part of the fabric of British culture that it is allowed to fester – most often disguised as anti-Zionism – whereas any remarks about and actions against blacks and other ethnic minorities are confronted without delay.

Some time during 2011, The Jewish Chronicle reported that in 2010 “there were more major antisemitic attacks in Britain last year than in any other diaspora country.”

Using evidence gathered by researchers at Tel Aviv University, The JC.com added: “Almost one in four attacks which took place worldwide happened in Britain …there were 614 incidents worldwide, 144 of which were perpetrated in the UK … while most European countries have either a strong far-right presence, as in Eastern Europe, or a strong Muslim pro-Palestinian community, as in Western Europe. What is ‘very unique to Britain’ is that is both are strong, and both are perpetrating attacks against Jews.”

As non-Brits, the T.A.U. team co-led by Dr Roni Stauber could not possibly begin to understand the daily reality behind the figures and so the reasons for them.

Jews have lived in England both openly and covertly since the reign of William 1, even possibly since Roman times. Some stayed secretly after the 1290 expulsion initiated by Edward 1 and there was a further ‘mini-expulsion’ ordered by James I. But they started to drift back during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell when their presence was tolerated if not formally allowed.

Today, the mainstream Anglo-Jewish community continues to dwindle because of a low-birth rate and the pull of emigration to Israel and elsewhere. However it is growing rapidly in parts of London and Manchester due to communities made up of ultra-Orthodox Jews which produce large families.

As an aside, I speculate whether the future Anglo-Jewish community will be made up exclusively of ‘Haredim’, left to do battle with their mirror-opposite Islamist opponents. I appreciate that neither side wants to know this, but sadly they have much –- an embarrassment of riches - in common!

Be that as it may, British attitudes are hardened partly because the population is an island race with a xenophobic distrust of and hostility towards any outsider. These feelings became entrenched, partly through the teachings of the Church and also via brilliantly sketched anti-heroic Jewish figures in English literature which have become integral to the mental landscape of anyone who reads, watches a play or views a movie.

I do not necessarily agree that figures like Shylock and Fagin are antisemitic. But they help to explain the society which produced them; made them pantomime villains and so deeply etched a certain version of Jews into the public psyche that the average person may find it hard to distinguish the fictional characters from real Jewish people with whom they may be acquainted.

All of which brings me to the utterly nauseating antisemitism which is allowed to permeate the online media and a request I have made to the current Leveson Inquiry in London.

Lord Justice Leveson (a prominent Jew in private life) is investigating the culture, practice and ethics of the Press following the ‘phone hacking’ scandal in the U.K which reached its height and then closed The News of the World newspaper in July 2011.

There is a huge amount of Jew-hatred allowed in readers’ comment sections in the on-line Press. Sadly, it is far worse in a forum like the Telegraph Online than those with notoriously anti-Israel policies like The Guardian.I simply can’t fathom why. Even the Telegraph’s ‘FAQ’ section doesn’t clear up the mess. It states:

“My Telegraph is moderated by a dedicated team of moderators here at the Telegraph who investigate reports of unsuitable material that are sent in by users … We moderate to help encourage free, open and civil discussion. We try to delete as little as possible though some content has to be removed, usually for legal reasons, sometimes for taste reasons and always with the aim of keeping the community running smoothly and minimising conflict …

“… We don’t read the comments before they go live so that discussions here flow freely. Therefore we rely on readers to complain about anything that is offensive or inappropriate …

“The main types of content that we remove are … personal abuse … libellous comments … racist, sexist and homophobic material and comments likely to incite religious hatred. This should be self-explanatory. Generalisations about entire groups of people are never sensible and, in some cases, may be illegal.” (my highlight).

“ …we moderate by responding to complaints from readers … Many factors are involved in our decision. The words you use and the context in which the comment is made can affect our decision as much as the content itself. However, we accept that moderation is a subjective business.”

So the Telegraph’s policy is confusing, self-contradictory and totally meaningless. If the moderators can’t decide what incites racial hatred then I suggest they need a lawyer to help them. Perhaps Lord Leveson may be their man!

I’ve now contacted the Leveson Inquiry and appealed that it widen its brief in order to deal with the problem. My request concludes thus:

“My hope is that the Government's decision to ban online criminals and cyber bullies will be followed by a severe crack-down on internet racism, perhaps under the terms of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006.”

I have received a standard reply assuring me: “All submissions are read and considered by a member of the Inquiry Team. We may contact you to discuss your submission further in due course, if this is appropriate.”

I have a sneaking suspicion I won’t hear from them again. If I’m right, that will be another lost opportunity; another bad day for racial harmony – and another reason for more British Jews to leave the U.K. for overseas.

I omitted much more material from this piece when I first wrote it for Live Encounters. I may have opined that physical, thuggish antisemitism reflects a brutish streak in British society which, for example, saw more than a dozen murders during the recent so-called ‘Season of Goodwill.’
I could also have trotted out the truism that British anti-Jewish feeling is split largely into the ‘yobbish’ (as above) and the ‘snobbish’. This is where, as another example, the on-going, obnoxious antics of too many young Conservative Party members is revealed.
Their leader, Prime Minister David Cameron must feel heartily sickened every time increasing amounts of such mindless bad-boy behaviour is revealed. He does not shirk from discussing his own Jewish background and also has many Jewish acquaintances.
So, as it was he who first called for this current inquiry into ‘Press Malpractice’, I challenge him to ensure that online antisemitism is first thoroughly examined and then stamped out for good by Lord Leveson and his team.

Technorati Tags: English Premier Soccer League,Antisemitism,Gaza War,Holocaust,World War 2,Jewish Chronicle,Dr Roni Stauber,William 1,Edward 1,James 1,Oliver Cromwell,Haredim,Islamists,Shylock,Fagin,The Church,Leveson Inquiry,Telegraph Online,News of the World,Phone Hacking,Racial and Religous Hatred Act 2006,Prime Minister David Cameron,Young Tories

msniw

Happy 2012 From Me–And the Israel Defence Force!

2011-12-31T02:40:00.001+02:00

IDF– Protecting Israel And Its Citizens For Another Year …

As Karmiel ESRA prepares to host another fabulously popular fun quiz, here’s a question no-one thought to pose.

Q. Who’s helping to keep us all safe while we welcome the secular New Year?

A. Watch this lovely video clip and the answer will be clear!

Now let’s party!

Technorati Tags: IDF,2012,Quiz,ESRA,Karmiel,Israel

msniw

Perfectly Write As Rain!: As The World Unites For The Festive Season …

2011-12-24T18:57:00.000+02:00

Perfectly Write As Rain!: As The World Unites For The Festive Season …

Perfectly Write As Rain!: Prince Philip: Routine Surgery After ‘Likely Heart Attack’

2011-12-24T16:05:00.000+02:00

Perfectly Write As Rain!: Prince Philip: Routine Surgery After ‘Likely Heart Attack’

An Extra Light In The Dark

2011-12-19T17:52:00.001+02:00

During this season of light and festivity for so many, I wish to spare an extra thought for those in mourning or, who like my family, mark the anniversary of the passing of a beloved relative during Chanucah week.

‘May their memories be for a blessing’.

Chanucah sameach to all my Jewish friends and readers and heartiest good wishes for the Festive Season and 2012 to everyone else.

Technorati Tags: Chanucah,Festive Season,2012,Greetings

msniw

Israel - Without A ‘Hitch’?

2011-12-17T15:47:00.001+02:00

Hitchens: Zionism was a "stupid, messianic, superstitious idea.”

A friend of my teenage years – now also living in Israel – was always referred to as “The G***. Some people’s large, engaging personalities simply lend them to being thus referred.

But that’s the least of Christopher – ‘The Hitch’- Hitchens’ links to Jews and Israel.

Among the thousands of words published since the journalist and essayist died late last week, a good number have been devoted to his Jewish background.

But no-one – and nothing - I’ve read has suggested that this gene must account for his outstanding Talmudic talent for argument and debate. Where journalist, Toby Young refers to him as “the Cicero of the saloon bar”, I suggest he might be better dubbed as it’s ‘Rabbi Shammai’. The latter was the scholar who led a 1st Century Talmudic school of strict interpretation and who, like Hitchens, may be described as a ‘contrarian’.

The Hitch insisted he was a devout atheist but I wonder if this was purely self-delusion. After all, when he discovered quite late in life that he and his brother and fellow journalist, Peter were of Jewish stock he was thrilled.

Indeed he once told interviewer, Lynn Barber of a dream in which he was on the deck of a ship and was asked to make up a minyan (a 10-strong Jewish prayer quorum).

The Hitchens’ brothers - like too many people on the edge of the Jewish community – discovered their heritage relatively late in life. It happened when Peter married a Jewish woman and introduced her to their elderly grandmother, known affectionately as ‘Dodo’.

Recalled Hitchens: “’Dodo said, 'She's Jewish, isn't she?' and then announced: 'Well, I've got something to tell you. So are you.' She said that her real surname was Levin, not Lynn, and that her ancestors were Blumenthals from Poland.

But he also told Barber that he was convinced why they had not been told of their background as children:

“'I'm practically certain I know her motivation. Dodo had had quite a thin time in the hat business and encountered some prejudice. She looked Jewish, whereas my mother didn't. And I'm sure she didn't want me to go through any of that - her plan for me was that I was to be an English gentleman - you can judge for yourself how well that worked out!'”

But unlike his non-Jewish best friend and fellow writer, Martin Amis, Hitchens had a robust loathing of Israel and Zionism, insisting during an interview with Charlie Rose in 2001 that Zionism was a "stupid, messianic, superstitious idea." He claimed that he even dissuaded his mother from visiting Israel.

In his own memoir, Experience, Amis gives a graphic account of a disastrous evening two years before the Rose interview when he and Hitchens had had dinner with the American Jewish novelist, Saul Bellow. They were at his home in New England, Vermont and on their way there, Amis urged Hitchens to refrain from making anti-Israel comments but Hitchens ignored his request.

Amis writes: “I sat with my head in my palms, staring at the aftermath of the dinner – that evening’s road smash … The theme of the discord was, of course, Israel … Then it was over, and we faced the silence … Before him (Hitchens) in the silence lay the stilled battlefield: the State of Israel, thoroughly outmanoeuvred, comprehensively overthrown …”

Perhaps as I write, Bellow and Hitchens have enjoyed a happy reunion - discovering they are united by blood and love after all.

Technorati Tags: Christopher Hitchens,Zionism,Israel,Lynn Barber,Toby Young,Martin Amis,Saul Bellow,Experience

Article first published as Israel - Without A ‘Hitch’? on Technorati

msniw

The Play What Will Wrote!

2011-12-14T09:49:00.001+02:00

This review first appeared as: Theatre Review (Zichron Yaakov, Israel): A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Blogcritics.

During the most joyous three hours I have experienced since emigrating to Israel, on Monday I watched the best production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream I have seen in 40 years.

It came courtesy of the witty and wondrous TNT Theatre Britain whose members were performing at the Beit Nir Theatre, Zichron Yaacov as part of a nationwide tour.

Seneca cannot be too heavy, as another Shakespearian immortal says elsewhere, nor Plautus too light as the lads and lasses from TNT acted, danced, sang – and otherwise frolicked - through the enchanted forest with nods to traditional British pantomime and even an in-joke for fans of the late comedian, Eric Morecambe.

The guys also threw in smatterings of Hebrew and – real chutzpah this, in the heart of Rothschild country – had the ‘rude mechnicals’ supping Maccabi Goldstar – Israel’s favourite beer!

These touches were surely down to Israeli Noa Bodner - a double delight as Hippolyta and Titania.

But even as the entire show reminded me why I became a Shakespeare addict aged eleven and then adored an early 70s romp at Sheffield, UK’s old Playhouse, I scouted the audience and saw a new generation of devotes laughing fit to bust throughout the auditorium.

TNT boasts that it performs in 30 countries on three continents. According to The Guardian newspaper, they’ve long since ditched “television based realism in favour of fantasy, imagination, physicality and a muscular approach to serious text.” No kidding! The approach of director, Paul Stebbings and dramaturge, Phil Smith, shines through every moment of every scene.

Just one small caveat: They overdid the ‘play within the play’. No wonder Theseus and Hippolyta were a mite restive – at the end of a deliciously long matinee, so were we!

* I’m still unsure where one ends and the other begins, but the performance was billed as being by TNT Theatre Britain in an American Drama Group Europe Production.

Technorati Tags: William Shakespeare,A Midsummer Night's Dream,TNT Theatre Britain,American Drama Group Europe

msniw

When I Was Framed – With President Moshe Katsav!

2011-12-11T17:56:00.001+02:00

Under normal circumstances the picture above would have been a pleasant memory to savour; an historic record for the family album.

But our meeting with the then President of Israel, Mr Moshe Katsav and his wife, Gila during Succot (‘Tabernacles’) in October 2005 is now only a subject for hollow, self-deprecating mirth.

But I will not make a salacious joke, because this past week Katsav began a seven year sentence at the Maasiyahu Prison, in Ramle, Central Israel for rape, an obscene act, sexual harassment and attempting to subvert the course of justice.

He is expected to share a cell with a former Shas Party cabinet minister Shlomo Benizri, who in 2008 was convicted of accepting bribes. Both men are very religious Jews.

Now I’ll direct you to an interview first published during January in the Jewish Chronicle which gives a graphic account of Katsav’s quite diabolical shenanigans. The interviewee was almost certainly his main victim.

Indeed, as one casualty of office ‘terrorism’ to another, I salute her as a true heroine of modern Israel. I also offer my heartfelt and sincere sympathy to Mrs Katsav who surely continues to suffer a daily living hell.

* Each year, Israelis and tourists alike are able to visit the President's residence in Jerusalem during the annual open house held on one day during the Succot holiday.

Below I end on a happier note with a Youtube clip featuring this year’s open-house hosted by current President Shimon Peres.

Technorati Tags: Moshe Katsav,Rape,Israel,Prison,Photograph,Succot Holiday

msniw

Be Happy – Stand With Israel!

2011-12-06T17:01:00.001+02:00

Be happy–Stand With Israel!

It’s all very simple:

Israel’s secret weapon is not in Dimona.

Nor is it in a bunker beneath the Knesset – the Parliament building in Jerusalem.

But you can see it emblazoned on the lovely faces of the kids in this video.

The answer is that despite all its woes -

ISRAEL IS A HAPPY SOCIETY.

Now watch this wonderful clip produced by the international StandWithUs group and you will understand what I mean.

* StandWithUs? It’s is an international, non-profit organisation dedicated to telling the truth about Israel and to combating the extremism and antisemitism that perpetuates the lies continuously repeated by its enemies.

Stand With Us is performed in this clip by The Afula Youth Ensemble of the Afula Conservatorium, Northern Israel.
Musical arrangement - Yoram Zadok
Video director - Allan Pakes
Executive director - Lilach Meidan
Video editor - Roy Stein
Conservatorium director - Betzalel Kupervaser
Executive producer - Tibi Zohar

Produced by – StandWithUs

Now enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Stand With Us,Tibi Zohar,Zion,Zionist,Israel Standwithus,Peace,Zionism,Hebrew

msniw

Eichmann To Al-Bis: Israel’s Revolving Door?

2011-11-23T18:01:00.001+02:00

This is an updated version of an article which has just been published in the online international magazine, Live Encounters. Editor, Mark Ulyseas is an Indian travel writer who supports Israel and all matters Jewish. It is a privilege to work with him. See more at: http://liveencounters.net

--------------

As Israel’s darling boy began to readjust to life at his Mitzpe Hila home, the western Galilee experienced a near-reprise of the forest fires of now almost 12 months ago.

Moreover, the national moral and political agonising over Gilad Shalit’s release in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian terrorist prisoners, resembled the rage engendered a near-half-century ago over the execution of a single Nazi - Adolf Eichmann.

But just as the sudden brushfires near Kibbutz Yassur and Moshav Ahihud caused no physical injuries - simply tailbacks of disgruntled motorists in diverted traffic - even those most against the prisoner swap joined the general rejoicing in Shalit’s return.

"I'm happy to hear that Gilad Shalit is alive and well," said Frimet Roth, whose daughter, Malki was among those murdered in the 2001 Sbarrao Pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem.

"That's a great relief and happy news. But it's accompanied by other feelings, the difficult ones. There is sorrow, anger; we're having a hard time understanding and digesting it. There is also fear. I'm very scared."

Mrs Roth insisted that her objection to the exchange, including the release of many terrorists, was based on reason, not emotion.

I know what she means. An outing to Fort Yechiam, quite near the Shalit’s home and coincidentally on the day he was released – could have turned into personal tragedy when neighbouring picnickers discovered an unattended backpack next to where we were seated at lunch.

A security man was called. The bag contained nothing nasty but we wondered why it had been left there and shuddered briefly when we considered the implications.

But there is no reason, only an ugly parody of emotion from illogical antisemites like The Guardian newspaper’s Deborah Orr, who performed an extraordinary cerebral somersault by claiming that Israel’s prisoner swap was based on racism; that one Jewish life was worth more than 1,000 Arab lives. She wrote:

"It's quite something, the prisoner swap between Hamas and the Israeli government that returns Gilad Shalit to his family, and more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to theirs...[which is] an indication of how inured the world has become to the obscene idea that Israeli lives are more important than Palestinian lives."

It’s clear that Orr, while married to someone from a Jewish background, simply doesn’t want to understand the Jewish psyche: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whatever his legion faults, thought as much like a father as a politician when he took the advice of his security chiefs and accepted the Hamas deal.

Yet Dr. Yaakov Hasdai, a respected Israeli historian and retired army colonel, has advised that while Israelis may rejoice in Shalit’s return as private citizens, “as a society and a nation, we need to look at our situation and do some soul-searching as to where we stand.”

In an interview with Israel Hayom newspaper Dr Hasdai suggested that freed terrorists who had been on life sentences and subsequently re-arrested for planning or engaging in terrorist attacks should then be given the death penalty.

“We cannot have a situation where prison is a revolving door. This needs to be said unequivocally: released terrorists can take advantage of their second lease on life, but if afterward they return to their misdeeds, then that is the end of the road.”

Rt Col Dr Hasdai is much admired in top Israeli circles. If his ideas are accepted, terrorists like Wafa al-Bis may fulfil their wish for martyrdom.

The day after her release as part of the Shalit deal she told cheering schoolchildren on the Gaza Strip that she hoped they would follow her example:

"I hope you will walk the same path we took and God willing, we will see some of you as martyrs.”

Bis, a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was imprisoned for 12 years in 2005 for planning to blow herself up with 22lbs of explosives sewn to her underwear. She was caught red-handed by Israeli guards at the Erez border crossing on her way to Beersheba's Soroka Hospital.

From Eichmann to al-Bis – is this Israel’s future revolving door?

Following bad publicity on the “Comment Is Free Watch” website run by Adam Levick, Ms Orr later published a part-retraction of her comments. She wrote thus:

“Why It's Right To Weigh Your words Carefully”

“I was wrong to use poorly chosen words to describe Israel, but that doesn't mean the country is above criticism.

“Last week, I upset a lot of people by suggesting Zionists saw themselves as "chosen". My words were badly chosen and poorly used, and I'm sorry for it. But accusations of antisemitism have also been intemperate. One can accept the right of Israel to exist, while still believing that the manner in which the nation was created – against the wishes of many of the people already living there, hundreds of thousands of whom became refugees – was problematic and made a contribution to Israel's subsequent and terrible troubles. (This, in turn, does not imply that the violence against Israel has been either justified or deserved. It has done the Palestinian cause much damage, and rightly so.)

“Nevertheless, it would be absurd to believe that Jewish people are any more or less capable of making geo-political miscalculations than anybody else, or any more or less likely to be called to account for them. Evidence from every corner of the world, throughout the ages, attests to the fact that such behaviour is all too typical of humans, as is reluctance to accept that such actions are bound to have their critics.”

But neither I, Adam Levick nor a host of other Israel supporters, Jewish and not, were the least bit impressed. Please see http://cifwatch.com/2011/11/14/the-apology-to-the-jewish-people-deborah-orr-should-have-written/ for Levick’s full reply to her.

Technorati Tags: Israel,Hamas,Prisoner Swap,Gilad Shalit,Adolf Eichmann,Brushfires,Frimet Roth,Malkie Roth,Sbarro Pizzeria,Fort Yechiam,The Guardian,Deborah Orr,Benjamin Netanyahu,Colonel Yaakov Haasdai,Israel Hayom,Wafa al-Bis

msniw

Time For My Obit To Be Rewritten?

2011-11-18T12:07:00.001+02:00

My enemies may be rubbing their hands in glee but it seems that reports of ‘my’ death, if not grossly exaggerated, may have been wilfully inaccurate.

Exactly 30 years on from her mysterious drowning in November 1981, it appears that the circumstances surrounding the untimely end of my actress namesake, Natalie Wood (nee Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko) are to be reinvestigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.

The Daily Mail’s online version reports that:

“Questions over the circumstances surrounding Ms Wood's untimely death have lingered for 30 years, and family members have previously asked for authorities to re-examine the original findings.

“A spokesman for Robert Wagner, (whom Miss Wood married twice), said the family trusts the sheriff's department will take appropriate action but has not been contacted about the case being re-opened.”

Meanwhile, your correspondent based in Israel is keeping fairly well despite the ravages of age and lives in quiet contemplation in Karmiel, Lower Galilee, having emigrated from the U.K. in March 2010.

The actress was an able thespian and a classic American beauty but had a (Christian) Russian Orthodox background. Despite my own best efforts, I’ve still got my funny little Jewish legs, thick glasses and twin hearing aids. (Wow, to see it in writing)!

If the actress were still alive she would be aged 73 – sixteen years my senior -and I bet she’d be looking great.

But as I’ve written previously: The real interest in the movie star is her mysterious death. I was so-named simply because my parents liked it and our family name is ‘Wood’. I was born when the actress was a teenager appearing on US TV. I guess my own parents knew little or nothing of her.

So I claim to be the first, original ‘Natalie Wood’. All others – global-wide and skulking in corners of Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. - are imposters and should also be investigated by the L.A. police.

Technorati Tags: Natalie Wood,Movie Actress,Death,Mystery,Los Angeles Police

msniw

Israel’s Top Guns At ‘The Big Tent’

2011-11-15T19:36:00.001+02:00

Despite the attendant silliness I expect as part of the preparations for large scale events organised by the Manchester Jewish community, I am delighted that not only is the much vaunted ‘Big Tent’ for Israel’ going ahead on Sunday 27 November - but that my warm acquaintance Stuart Palmer is among the star attractions.

Stuart, U.K.-born but a long-term Haifa resident, spends his retirement working in Israel advocacy as Director of ICAN (the International Citizens Action Network). He will be in ‘The Big Tent’ as chairman of CoHaV – the Coalition of Israel Advocacy Volunteers.

But the star of the show will be keynote speaker, Daniel Taub, Israel’s new Ambassador to the U.K. Moreover, Taub is due to make another visit to Manchester – the home of the U.K.’s second largest community – in early December.

The impressive guest list also includes a large group of Christian supporters of Israel, Scots academic Dr Denis MacEoin and Manchester-born Marcus Sheff, Executive Director of The Israel Project's Israel Office, whose mother Sylvia helped to form the Conservative Friends of Israel.

Online registration is open on the event website at: www.thebigtentforisrael.org.

There is free entrance e for ages 11+, 6th formers and students.

Technorati Tags: The Big Tent For Israel,Manchester,Ambassador Daniel Taub,Stuart Palmer,CoHaV,ICAN

msniw

“Pluralism, Provocation and Power”

2011-11-13T19:41:00.001+02:00

If they would – or could – be self-aware, Jewish and Islamist extremists may confess to having much in common.

There’s not only the obvious similarities in life-cycle ritual observed throughout the Moslem and Jewish worlds.

There’s the despicable way the extremists in both camps treat their women. Sadly, it would not happen so often if the women concerned did not aggravate matters by actively accepting, even encouraging what happens.

I am by no means expert about Islam but I am aware that many Orthodox Jewish women forcibly collaborate in their marginalisation.

Last year, for example, I attended a celebration at a private home where the hostess demanded a mechitza (screen) be erected, so dividing her women guests from their husbands.

Recently I learned that Moslem Sharia law has a similar rule to that of the Jewish law of kol isha (a woman’s voice). This prevents women singing – occasionally even speaking – while in mixed company.

So I was delighted to read the following blog article by US-born Conservative Masorti Rabbi Marc Rosenstein who lives near me in Moshav Shorashim, just outside Karmiel in the Northern Galilee.

The following piece appeared last week in his Galilee Diary on the American Union for Reform Judaism’s website (‘Ten Minutes of Torah’ panel).

Thanks to modern technology, these entertaining and instructive pieces leave Shorashim, ‘travel’ virtually to the USA and return to Israel to hit my desktop barely three miles (about five kilometres) from where he lives!

*****

“Samuel said, "A woman's voice is sexually provocative, as it is written [Song of Songs 2:14] 'Let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet…'"

“ -Babylonian Talmud, Tractate B’rachot 24a

“The latest in the on-going series of dramas in Israel related to religion and state is the controversy over women soloists in army entertainment troupes. We may have 400,000 people marching in the streets over economic distortions, and the whole world against us on the diplomatic front, but fortunately we have time and energy for really important things! This topic has been front page news off and on for the past month or so.

“The above passage is part of a Talmudic discussion of those aspects of a woman's interaction with men that are liable to give rise to sinful thoughts (her hair, her skin). The outcomes of this discussion are the rules of modesty in dress, and the practice of married women covering their hair in public. In addition, Jewish law developed the prohibition of men hearing a women's voice in song. This was attenuated by limiting it to solos – if the woman is part of a choir, the prohibition does not apply.

“For most modern, western, egalitarian, liberal people, this prohibition feels patently absurd, standing on several assumptions about human nature and social convention that we would label silly at best and immoral at worst. And indeed, there are Orthodox rabbis who are also uncomfortable with these assumptions, and have issued rulings further limiting the prohibition to situations where the suspicion of sexual provocation might be in some way relevant (concerts, pageants, etc. would thus be excluded from the prohibition).

“Over the years, the stricter interpretation has been observed in Ultra-Orthodox communities, while the more moderate, Zionist Orthodox mainstream has largely ignored it. Concerts and musical theatre productions in the big cities are well-attended by people whose headgear identifies them as part of this population sector. Army entertainment troupes have always had female vocalists, and no army rabbi ever intervened (why not? Was it because the rabbis found a halachic (Jewish law) way out, or because they knew they would lose the battle?).

“But times are changing, as, contrary to Ben Gurion's expectation, the power of Orthodoxy seems to be waxing. Recently some Orthodox soldiers tried to walk out of an army concert featuring a female singer, and were disciplined by their commanding officer. This made headlines, ultimately resulting in a ruling by the Chief Rabbi justifying the soldiers' behaviour, suggesting that the army doesn't need to stop producing such concerts – it just needs to allow Orthodox soldiers to be excused from them.

“It is important to say in this context that recent years have seen a significant rise in the percentage of Orthodox soldiers in combat units and officers' training.

So, here we are again, struggling to mark the limits of pluralism. We discussed this last week at our staff meeting (at the seminar centre I direct at Shorashim). Tova, who lives in an Orthodox community, said that pluralism dictates that people should be free to follow their conscience on such matters, and soldiers should be allowed to leave the room. Sigalit, who grew up in a liberal Orthodox community and sang plenty of solos herself, argued that the ultimate impact will be to discourage the army from putting women in its entertainment troupes.

“But as you can't run an army where soldiers get to make such decisions, so the "easy" solution will be to eliminate the dilemma. Few would argue with the policy that all army food must be kosher; but here, the accommodation of religious scruples for some infringes on the opportunities of others – and undermines the social framework.

On the other hand, how can the army of the Jewish state refuse to accommodate the religious needs of Jewish soldiers?

My reply to Rabbi Rosenstein ran thus:

“I wonder to which 'Samuel' the tractate above alludes?

Surely not Samuel The Judge and Prophet as he must have ante-dated The Song of Songs by many years because its authorship is ascribed to King Solomon, King David's son.

“I much prefer the view of The Masorti Movement's Rabbi David Golinkin who explained during a magisterial lecture at this year's annual Women's Masorti Conference in Jerusalem that the kol isha ruling is barely 200 years old. ("The Participation of Jewish Women in Public Rituals and Torah Study 1845-2010").

“Funny, isn't it, that fundamentalist Islamic preachers have made the same ruling as our fanatical rabbis?

“And even funnier, in my view, is that these sex-obsessed men never think that women (like me, anyway!) often find male voices very attractive indeed.

“My favourites include the warm radio voice of the present UK Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks; that of the late great British actor John Gielgud (avowedly gay!), the U.K. former poet laureate, Andrew Motion and his colleague, novelist, Martin Amis.”

Meanwhile, there are many level-headed women who think like me. This is how some have responded to Rabbi Rosenstein:

The practice makes ‘Shirley’ feel angry and frightened; ‘Meredith’ believes that if “Israel wants to describe herself as a Jewish State, then she has to decide which 'stream' of Judaism is meant by that and then accept having to adhere to those parameters including how women are 'allowed' to behave”.

Finally, ‘Suzy’ demands: “ … is there no flexibility for reform? Is the human nature of men so weak? I really believe most Jewish men can handle the sound of beautiful singing by a woman without acting poorly … there has to be room for growth and sensibility. The original rule makes no sense, and don’t try to convince me otherwise.”

Indeed a friend in Karmiel who decided to try an Orthodox Sabbath morning service held by a new religious community here was appalled to find that the women present were pushed into the kitchen.

This is the policy of a man, who like Rabbi Rosenstein is an immigrant to Israel from the USA. But unlike Rabbi Marc, this man left many problems back home. Maybe he should return there to resolve them.

Technorati Tags: Pluralism,Religious Extremism,Judaism,Islam,Women Singing,Galilee Diary,Rabbi Marc Rosenstein,Karmiel,Union For Reform Judaism

msniw

‘Jews May Kill Non-Jewish Babies’ - Orthodox Rabbis

2011-11-12T16:19:00.001+02:00

Article first published as "Jews May Kill Non-Jewish Babies" - Orthodox Rabbis on Technorati.

A blistering report by the Israel Religious Action Centre accuses state-funded Israeli rabbis of racism and criminal racial incitement.

The 40-page dossier, published last week during a conference at The Knesset (Israel Parliament), claims how some rabbis interpret Jewish law to argue that “Jews can kill non-Jewish babies because they may one day grow up to be enemies.”

IRAC and Anat Hoffman, its Executive Director often come to blows with the (ultra) Orthodox establishment but the impact of this particular report may have been weakened by the coincidental death of Rabbi Natan Tzvi Finkel, head of Jerusalem’s Mir Yeshiva (Talmudic Academy) on the day of publication.

During December 2010, Hoffman then warned that criminal action could be taken against allegedly racist Orthodox rabbis who forbade people to sell or rent properties to non-Jews. They could also face dismissal, she said. But it seems that almost 12 months on, nothing has changed.

Writing last week in The Pluralist, IRAC’s newsletter, she said:

“Racial incitement in the name of Judaism is a regular occurrence in Israel. IRAC works to change this reality. On the last day of the summer Knesset session, we presented a bill supported by 20 Knesset members to better define racial incitement and to regulate enforcement.

“ … This is the first report of its kind, compiling detailed cases of incitement by state funded rabbis. The 40-page report includes some material that is very difficult, such as the book Torat Hamelech which states that “Jews can kill non-Jewish babies because they may one day grow up to be enemies.”

“Incitement is a criminal offence in Israel. Unfortunately, there has been almost no enforcement in the case of rabbis. Forty-eight cases have been brought to court and in only one case was there a conviction. None of the rabbis featured in our report, most of whom are state funded, has had a disciplinary case opened against them (my emphasis – NIW).

“We created this report to remind the Israeli public of the harm that incitement can cause. We are also showing that the racist interpretations that some rabbis have espoused are an extremely fundamentalist approach to Halacha, Jewish law . The bible reminds us 36 times to treat strangers kindly because we were once strangers in Egypt. By bringing this report to the Knesset, we aim to raise awareness that these rabbis are being financed by the public and that there should be a limit to what they can or cannot do.

“Words can kill. The language of incitement that the rabbis use can draw real blood as we learned sixteen years ago when Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Yigal Amir murdered Rabin at a peace rally that followed a barrage of statements by radicals, among them rabbis, calling for Rabin’s death. Without rabbinic consent, this would never have happened. Rabin’s murder was inspired by these extremists. They were using Halacha to challenge theL law of Israel.

“Has anything changed since Rabin’s assassination? A poll was released today stating that 39% of Israeli Jews believe another politically motivated murder is possible. We continue to see the consequences of incitement. Rabin’s death is only the most extreme example but it doesn’t end there. Seven mosques have been burned in the last few months by price tag attacks inspired by rabbis.

“The use of provocative language in this country is a dangerous threat to us all. Let's do something about it.”

At the report’s launch, she added: “Presumably someone who devotes his life to sacred matters must meet high standards of ethics and morality … but the reality is that these rabbis are not called to account for actions which would be considered a violation of the law, if they were made by any other state employee.”

* The Israel Religious Action Centre is the public and legal advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel and was founded in 1987 with the aim of advancing pluralism in Israeli society.

Technorati Tags: Israel Religious Action Centre,Anat Hoffman,Israel,The Knesset,Racism,Racial Incitement

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‘Jews May Kill Non-Jewish Babies’ - Orthodox Rabbis