Monday, December 23, 2024
Irish comments on Israel leave Scottish Jews terrified as 'identity' comes under attack
Last week, Israel's Foreign Minister announced that its Embassy in Ireland would be closing "in light of the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government". The timing of Jerusalem's decision comes just a few days after Ireland's Foreign Minister, Micheál Martin, announced Ireland's plan to intervene in the proceedings against Israel, brought by South Africa to the International Court of Justice.
Announcing Ireland's intervention, Martin wrote that "Ireland will be asking the ICJ to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide". If there was ever an admission that Israel is absolutely not committing genocide in Gaza it would be this.
Micheál Martin, on behalf of the Irish government, has essentially acknowledged that genocide is not being committed by Israel in Gaza and, unsatisfied by this, is asking the Court to change the definition of genocide so that the world's only Jewish state can be found guilty of the ultimate crime. It beggars belief.
Israel is completely justified in its decision to close its Embassy in Dublin. It seems to me that repeated Irish governments have a fundamental prejudice against Israel and so there is little that could be gained from having an embassy in Dublin.
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Friday, December 20, 2024
The Capitol celebrates Chanukah early with a Menorah lighting
Despite the world's tumult, there is a light this time of year.
Today, at the Capitol, we were there to see that light, celebrated.
Wyoming celebrated the festival of lights on Thursday, with its pre-Chanukah and Menorah lighting ceremony, as the community paused to remember the things that matter this time of year.
"Light always wins over darkness, freedom always wins over tyranny, and goodness prevails," said Rabbi Zalman Mendelsohn," of the Chabad Jewish center of Wyoming.
In attendance were Gov. Mark Gordon, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, and Rabbi Yaakov Raskin of the Chabad Jewish Center in Laramie, and Rabbi Zalman Mendelsohn of the Chabad Jewish Center of Wyoming.
The celebration has been sponsored for the last three years by Peaks Healthcare Consulting.
"It shows Wyoming solidarity with all types of people. To increase tolerance, to become a light to the rest of the country and how to behave," said Ahron Katz, CEO of Peak Healthcare Consulting.
The state capitol festivity offered Chanukah themed foods, and sweets, to help remind us to be the light, and strive to unite all communities and faiths.
"Each of us has in our own lives, many ways, in which we can increase light, and love and joy and kindness and goodness in the world," said Mendelsohn.
There were performances by Universal recording artist Shulem Lemmer, the Cheyenne Youth Symphony, and a greeting from Miss Wyoming 2022, Hazel Homer-Wambeam.
This celebration has been going on for seventeen years at the Capitol.
This festivity is one of the many cultural celebrations the Capitol holds each year, and all faiths gathered today.
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Thursday, December 19, 2024
Sydney man arrested for threats against Jewish nursing home
A Sydney man was arrested on Wednesday for making violent online threats against a Jewish nursing home, according to local sources, statements by the New South Wales Police Force, and Montefiore Residential Care.
The 48-year-old Harris Park man was arrested and charged with publicly threatening violence on grounds of religion and using carriage service to menace, said NSW police, allegedly for posting "a threatening and offensive comment on a social media platform directed towards an aged-care facility in Randwick."
Montefiore responded to reports of an arrest for threatening online comments by increasing security presence at its Randwick, Woollahra, and Hunters Hill campuses, the company said in a Thursday letter to residents and families.
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Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Montreal synagogue allegedly hit by arson, nearby Jewish office building damaged
A synagogue in a Montreal suburb was allegedly targeted early Wednesday morning by arson — the second time the building was hit by an incendiary device in a little more than one year.
Montreal police received a 911 call shortly before 3 a.m. about a fire at the Congregation Beth Tikvah in the on-island suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, police spokesperson Véronique Dubuc said.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze and found an incendiary device at the scene. She said one window of the synagogue was smashed and the door to the building was damaged.
"Witnesses told us that they saw one suspect that was leaving rapidly shortly after the fire started," she said, adding that the building was damaged by smoke but the overall consequences of the fire were minor.
There are no reported injuries and police have not made arrests in the case, Dubuc said, adding that police have not yet determined whether the fire is a hate crime.
The synagogue is not the only building frequented by the city's Jewish community that appears to have been attacked on Wednesday. At around 7:20 a.m., officers at the scene of the fire noticed a smashed window and damaged glass door of a nearby building belonging to the West Island office of the Federation CJA.
Dubuc said police did not find an incendiary device at the second location and are investigating a possible link between the two incidents.
"It looks like it could be related," she said.
The same synagogue and the CJA building were targeted by arson in November 2023, causing minor damage to the synagogue's front door and the back door of the CJA office. No one was injured in the attacks, and Dubuc on Wednesday said police have not made arrests in that case.
Jewish groups and politicians condemned the targeting of the Jewish institutions on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying on X, "This vile antisemitic attack against Montreal's Jewish community is cowardly and criminal."
"I trust the perpetrators behind this hateful act will be quickly brought to justice."
Also on X, B'nai Brith Canada said, "This repeated targeting of Jewish institutions is a direct result of a permissive environment where antisemitism is allowed to fester unchecked." The group called for "stronger enforcement of hate crime laws" as well as "action to combat antisemitism in education and on university campuses."
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said on X, "It's intolerable that Montrealers live in insecurity because of their religion."
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Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Hasidic music star's UK concert canceled over 'security concerns'
A highly anticipated UK concert by Jewish-American Hassidic singer Benzion "Benny" Friedman was canceled, with the venue citing "security concerns" as the reason. The "Am Yisrael Chai" tour, organized by ACM Events, had been in the works for months. Known for spreading messages of Jewish pride through his music, Friedman was scheduled to perform on January 6 in London under the banner of the "Jewish Solidarity Concert." However, the Clapham Grand, a historic Victorian music hall, pulled out of the event just one day after tickets went on sale.
"For several years, London has consistently topped the list of cities requesting Benny's performances," Friedman's production company told COLlive. "That's why two concerts were planned in England." Despite this enthusiasm, organizers faced significant challenges securing a venue for the London concert, encountering resistance from venues unwilling to host a public Jewish event or be associated with pro-Israel sentiments.
After overcoming these obstacles, the Clapham Grand was finally confirmed as the venue. On Sunday, Friedman's team announced two concerts: one in London on January 6 and another in Manchester on January 7. The response was electric, with organizers describing the excitement as "overwhelming" as fans eagerly purchased tickets.
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Thursday, December 12, 2024
Shocking moment Jewish girls have plates thrown at their heads in suspected anti-Semitic attack in London
A 14-year-old girl was rushed to hospital after being pelted with glass bottles in "an abhorrent hate crime" in Stamford Hill last month.
The group of Jewish students were making their way to a rehearsal on November 21, when a man allegedly threw "dozens" of glass bottles and plates at their heads.
In footage shared by neighbourhood watch group Shomrim, a plate can be seen being hurled from a balcony and hitting one girl in the head, throwing her to the ground as she screams.
The video is captioned "wicked" with laughing emojis, suggesting it may have been a targeted attack
The alleged attack, which took place outside the Woodberry Down Estate in Stamford Hill, "deeply shocked the community," the group said.
Upon arriving on the scene, Shomrim contacted the Metropolitan Police, who have since arrested a man in connection with the alleged crime.
Police attended the scene at 7:44pm on Monday, November 21, in a statement they said a "girl was struck on the head and was taken to hospital. Her injuries have since been assessed as non-life changing".
The release added: "Officers attended the scene to carry out initial enquiries but were unable to locate the suspect. An investigation is ongoing.
"The incident is being treated as a potential antisemitic hate crime."
In a statement, Shomrim said: "The premeditated attack has left the local community deeply shaken.
"Evidence suggests the perpetrator had prepared the bottles and plates in advance, deliberately targeting the girls due to their visibly Jewish appearance."
Shomrim has urged anyone with further information to contact them or the Met Police quoting CAD 6966 25/11/24.
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Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Suspects shoot Hasidic Jewish pilgrims who entered Joseph’s Tomb illegally
Three Breslov Hasidic Jews entered Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank's Nablus Tuesday overnight independently and without coordination with security authorities. According to security sources, suspects opened fire at their vehicle. The three sustained minor injuries and managed to escape, eventually reaching Hadassah University Hospital.
"The three men are being detained for questioning by the Israel Police. Entry into Area A is dangerous and prohibited for Israelis by law," the military added.
This incident comes just two days after a similar case in which Hasidic Jews entered the site without coordination. That incident ended with their vehicle being found abandoned and set on fire.
Incoming Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Rabbi David Yosef, visited the site last week, marking one of his first visits since assuming the role. At Joseph's Tomb, he prayed for the safety of IDF soldiers and the hostages.
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Monday, December 09, 2024
After Massive Arson Attack, We in Australia’s Jewish Community Are Under Siege
On Friday morning, the world of the Australian Jewish community changed forever. The confidence that the community has always known has vanished — replaced with a new reality of uncharted, dangerous waters, where tolerance and security are no longer guarantees.
The impact of seeing a holy place of worship burning in the very heart of Jewish Melbourne, was like a stab in the heart of the Jewish people.
A synagogue represents so much more than a house of worship. It is a sanctuary for reflection, for learning, and for community gathering. For Jews, it is a cornerstone of identity and faith. An attack on such a place is not only an assault on Jewish life, but an assault on the core values that define Australia as a tolerant and inclusive society.
Australia's relationship with its Jewish population has long been defined by warmth, mutual respect, and shared values — tracing all the way back to the early days of the country's formation. It was the first country to vote in favor of the 1947 partition plan that paved the way for the establishment of the modern-day State of Israel. It was also the famed Australia Light Horse brigade that conquered Beersheba in October 1917, which enabled British forces to break the Ottoman line, leading to the end of Ottoman rule in the Land of Israel.
But the deliberate firebomb attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne reflects a broader, troubling trend. In recent times, the social fabric of Australia has come under severe strain, mirroring challenges in other parts of the world. The dramatic rise in antisemitism, up 316% since the October 7, 2023 Hamas pogrom — and Israel's defensive response — has been particularly heartbreaking, given the country's history as a refuge for Jewish people fleeing persecution.
Melbourne's Jewish community, for instance, has a large number of descendants of Jews who escaped the horrors of the Holocaust. And the country has the largest population of Holocaust survivors per capita outside of Israel. Many found safety in Australia, a land free from the deep-seated prejudices of Europe. They rebuilt their lives and became integral contributors to Australian society. For these families, the attack on a synagogue in Melbourne echoes the dark past their ancestors sought to leave behind.
Yet the legacy of antisemitism is not one bound by geography, distance, or time. Its tentacles reach far beyond its origins in the old world, and are able to penetrate every fabric of society in every corner of the new world, including here in Australia. While Australia's ruling government has become more hostile to Israel in recent years, it is also the changing demographic nature of the country — including people from places where antisemitism is much more normalized — that helps account for the negative changes happening here.
But political leadership has a responsibility too, and the failure of the government to act decisively against the growing wave of antisemitism has exposed the Jewish community to these acts of hostility.
This rise in antisemitism has coincided with the government's decision to undermine decades of bipartisan diplomatic support for Israel, leaving many in the Jewish community to feel abandoned. Since October 7, 2023, the sitting government has constantly criticized Israel's conduct in the war, failing to understand the existential threat Israel faces. Just last week, it supported a biased one-sided resolution at the United Nations that demanded Israel unilaterally withdraw from every inch of territory Palestinians want for their state, including all the holy places of Jerusalem, while demanding nothing of Palestinians — not even the cessation of terrorism.
And the Australian government has failed to crack down on weekly anti-Israel protests, which are often violent and intimidating, and take place in our major cities.
The flames of antisemitism are burning in Australia, just like they are burning in Canada and France and many places across the world. But to douse these flames requires a willpower, strength, and a moral clarity that this government has so far not shown.
If Australia's leaders fail to act, it will not just be a single synagogue consumed by these flames — but the very fabric of Australian society itself.
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Wednesday, November 27, 2024
At 93, Sephardi charity head decides it’s time to retire
At 93, Lucien Gubbay is stepping down after more than a decade in charge of the charity responsible for reviving ordination for central Orthodox rabbis in the UK.
But while he has retired as chairman of the Montefiore Endowment, he will be maintaining his active association as its life president.
Over many decades of communal service, he has been a prominent lay member of the S & P Sephardi Community and a champion of the Western Sephardi heritage.
He served on the board of the endowment for two decades, helping to invest the legacy of the Victorian philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore in Jewish education.
The S & P's Senior Rabbi, Joseph Dweck, said he had served it with "grace, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to ensuring the strength and future of our heritage".
In a letter to Gubbay, he said, "You have always had the wisdom to safeguard our history, combined with a clear vision for the future, ensuring that the Endowment is not only a custodian of the past but also a living source of support and inspiration for generations to come."
Incoming chairman of the endowment, Alan Bekhor, praising his predecessor's "wonderful achievements', said, "Lucien Gubbay has been an extraordinarily dedicated and effective chairman. Together with Rabbi Abraham Levy he has developed the charity into an important pillar of the training of leadership and higher education within Anglo-Jewry."
When the London School of Jewish Studies (formerly Jews' College) ended its semichah programme, the Montefiore Endowment stepped into the breach a few years later, launching a new ordination course in 2005. With the late Rabbi Levy, the spiritual head of the S & P for many years, Gubbay devised a training scheme that sought to give rabbis practical skills for communal roles and a Torah outlook that was engaged with the wider world.
Since then, nearly 30 graduates have gone into the pulpit, Jewish schools and other educational institutions.
The endowment then went one better by launching the first training course in the UK for future dayanim, celebrating its first graduates who included United Synagogue rabbis earlier this year.
It has also opened a scheme to train women as yoatzot halachah, advisers in certain areas of Jewish law, funded gap year students to study in Israel and run a diploma course for adults.
Gubbay has helped with translations for prayerbooks for the S & P and four years ago compiled Memorable Sephardi Voices, a collection showcasing the halachic moderation of Sephardi rabbis, which was published by the endowment.
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Tuesday, November 26, 2024
14-Year-Old Jewish Schoolgirl Injured in Suspected Hate Crime in Stamford Hill
A 14-year-old Jewish schoolgirl was rushed to the Royal London Hospital on Monday evening after being struck by glass bottles thrown by a male attacker in Stamford Hill, according to local neighbourhood security group Shomrim.
Attack on Schoolgirls
The attack occurred on the Woodberry Down Estate as a group of visibly Jewish girls walked from a bus stop to Beis Chinuch Girls' School for a rehearsal. The attacker, positioned on a balcony, hurled around a dozen glass bottles and plates at the group, Shomrim reported.
One of the girls sustained significant head and facial injuries, including a large hematoma and cuts, and was treated at the hospital before being discharged. Shomrim stated that the girls were left "badly shaken and traumatised by the ordeal."
Evidence Suggests Intent
Shomrim indicated that the attack was premeditated, noting:
"Evidence suggests the perpetrator had prepared the bottles and plates in advance, deliberately targeting the girls due to their visibly Jewish appearance."
The force of the attack was evident, with shattered glass discovered as far as the school's front gate.
Police Investigation
The Metropolitan Police are treating the incident as a potential antisemitic hate crime. CCTV footage led officers to the suspect's flat, where an arrest inquiry was conducted at 11 p.m. on Monday. However, the suspect was not present and has yet to be located.
A police source confirmed:
"We are investigating this incident as a potential hate crime and are working to trace and apprehend the suspect."
Rising Concerns in Stamford Hill
The Stamford Hill neighbourhood, home to a large ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, has seen a troubling rise in targeted attacks. Earlier this year, a 16-year-old Jewish boy was chased by three males throwing stones. Community leaders and residents have expressed growing concerns over safety and the need for stronger protection against hate crimes.
Community Reaction
Local leaders and organizations have condemned the attack, calling for justice and increased security measures. Shomrim praised the swift response of Hatzalah emergency services, who transported the injured girl to the hospital, and the ongoing efforts of the police to investigate the incident.
This attack highlights ongoing challenges faced by Jewish communities in the UK, with calls for greater action to combat antisemitism and ensure the safety of all residents. Further updates are expected as the investigation continues.
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Monday, November 25, 2024
Chabad emissaries say 'its hard to walk down the street with visible Jewish symbol'
Since the kidnapping and murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a Chabad emissary in Dubai, security measures have been heightened at Chabad centers worldwide to prepare for potential attacks or threats. However, fears and incidents of antisemitism didn't begin with this tragedy.
Around 6,000 Chabad emissaries, inspired by the vision of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, serve as beacons of Jewish life and support communities across the globe. Their mission, which began after World War II to revive Jewish identity, has grown into a global network of outreach and connection.
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Friday, November 22, 2024
Texas Jews are ‘deeply concerned’ about Christian material in proposed public school curriculum
Most of the time, as the senior rabbi of Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, Rabbi Mara Nathan's focus is on Jewish families. But this week, she's finding herself thinking about Christian ones, too.
That's because Texas is poised to adopt a public school curriculum that refers to Jesus as "the Messiah," asks kindergartners to study the Sermon on the Mount and presents the Crusades in a positive light.
The curriculum, Nathan said, "gives Christian children the sense that their family's religion is the only true religion, which is not appropriate for public school education, at the very least."
Nathan is among the many Texans raising concerns about the proposed reading curriculum as it nears final approval. Earlier this week, the Texas State Board of Education narrowly voted to proceed with the curriculum, called Bluebonnet Learning. A final vote is set for Friday.
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Thursday, November 21, 2024
California Jewish families sue school district over antisemitic incidents
A group of Jewish families has filed a lawsuit against Sequoia Union High School District in California, alleging the administration failed to protect students from what they describe as rampant antisemitism, discrimination, and harassment from both students and faculty members.
"Antisemitism is on the rise and somehow becoming culturally acceptable," Sam Kasle, one of the parents who filed the lawsuit, told Fox & Friends First host Carley Shimkus on Tuesday.
In an interview with Fox & Friends First, Kasle described an incident where his daughter encountered propaganda from a teacher wearing "Free Palestine" clothing. According to Kasle, during a vocabulary matching test, students were instructed to define "Palestine" as a country formally recognized by the UN in 1947. He added that the same class included a definition of Hamas as "a political party continuing the fight against Israel."
"When she brought this up to the teacher... he belittled her, made an example of her," Kasle alleged during the interview.
The legal action highlights several similar incidents that began following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack in Israel that resulted in over 1,200 deaths and sparked the ongoing war with the terrorist organization. Since the war's outbreak, thousands of protests have emerged across US college campuses.
According to the lawsuit, SUHSD officials and teachers allegedly distributed antisemitic materials, permitted anti-Jewish jokes and slurs, and reportedly advised Jewish students to hide their religious identities to avoid harassment.
The legal filing also describes an incident where a swastika was found etched into the pavement at Woodside High School's campus. When alerted, district authorities allegedly dismissed the symbol as "spiritual symbol[s] from Japanese Buddhism" rather than addressing it as a hate symbol, according to the lawsuit.
This trend extends beyond the district, with a recent StopAntisemitism report revealing that 72% of Jewish college students in the USA feel "unwelcome" on their campuses, with more than half reporting experiences of antisemitic incidents.
Kasle and other parents expressed disappointment with the district's response. "The administration basically circled the wagons over the past year," he told Fox & Friends First. "And regardless of their formal processes, they really didn't lift a finger. Their number one responsibility is not to protect themselves or the teachers, but to protect the children."
When reached for comment by Fox & Friends First, the Sequoia Union High School District did not respond.
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Wednesday, November 20, 2024
4 University of Rochester students arrested over 'wanted' posters targeting Jewish staff members
Four students were arrested on felony charges after buildings at the University of Rochester in New York were defaced with "wanted" posters targeting several Jewish faculty members, officials said.
The four students were charged with felony criminal mischief and a fifth is being investigated, Quchee Collins, the university public safety chief, said in a news release Tuesday.
Their names have not been released.
"I am incredibly satisfied that through a thorough investigation we were able to identify those who are allegedly responsible and hold them accountable for the deliberate and deplorable actions targeted toward members of our University community, including members of our Jewish population," Collins said.
University President Sarah Mangelsdorf said she was "saddened" that members of the school community were harassed and intimidated.
"The posters identifying faculty, staff, and board members have instilled credible fear among those depicted, their families, and other members of our Jewish community," Mangelsdorf said in a message to the community. "On behalf of my senior leadership team, the Board of Trustees, and myself, I want to underscore that antisemitism will not be tolerated. I want each of those who were targeted to know that they have our wholehearted support."
The university Department of Public Safety was made aware of the posters last week and immediately began removing them. Collins had said taking down the posters was challenging because they had a strong adhesive that was causing "damage to walls, floors, chalkboards, and other surfaces."
They were found in buildings across campus, including classrooms.
The posters named certain university staff members and professors, alleging war crimes related to the conflict in Gaza, NBC affiliate WHEC of Rochester reported.
Collins said that the incident does not "meet the legal threshold for being a hate crime" but that that could change "over the course of the legal proceedings."
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Monday, November 18, 2024
Attempted Robbery of Jewish Man in Brooklyn Puts Orthodox Community on Edge
The Jewish community in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York was the target of another attack on Thursday evening, as three men attempted to rob a Hasidic man after stalking him through the neighborhood.
Footage of the incident was shared on X/Twitter by Yaacov Behrman, liaison of Chabad Headquarters and founder of the Jewish Future Alliance (JFA) nonprofit. It shows the men, whose faces were concealed by hoods and ski masks, chasing the man into the street and through the neighborhood after attempting to accost him.
No arrests have been made.
"He doesn't give in easily, and I don't think they got anything," Behrman tweeted. "The Jewish Future Alliance is deeply concerned not only about the increase in crime but also the fact that, once again, the perpetrators were wearing masks. We need to reinstate mask laws."
The explosion of an antisemitic hate crime spree in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn has set the Orthodox Jewish community on edge in recent weeks.
Last Tuesday, two men beat a middle-aged Hasidic man after he refused to surrender his cell phone in compliance with what appears to have been an attempted robbery. According to multiple accounts, the assailants were two Black teenagers.
That incident was the third time in eight days that an Orthodox resident of Crown Heights was targeted for violence and humiliation. Before then, an African American male smacked a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was commuting to school on his bike in the heavily neighborhood, which is heavily Jewish, and less than a week earlier, an assailant slashed a visibly Jewish man in the face.
Most recently, a masked man was caught on video approaching a visibly Jewish father walking with his two sons and grabbing one of the children in broad daylight. He was unable to secure possession of the child, whose father fought back immediately and did not let go of his son. Police later identified the man as Stephan Stowe, 28 — a suspect gang member with an extensive criminal history which includes 33 prior arrests — and arrested him for attempted kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child.
In each case, the suspect was allegedly a Black male, a pattern of conduct which continues to strain Black-Jewish relations across the Five Boroughs.
Black-on-Jewish crime is a social issue which has been studied before. In 2022, a report published by Americans Against Antisemitism (AAA) showed that Orthodox Jews were the minority group most victimized by hate crimes in New York City and that 69 percent of their assailants were African American. Seventy-seven percent of the incidents took place taking in predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Of all assaults that prompted criminal proceedings, just two resulted in convictions.
"We've never seen anything like this," AAA founder and former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D) told The Algemeiner. "Shouldn't there be a plan for how we're going to deal with it? What's the answer? Education? We've been educating everybody forever for God's sake, and things are just getting worse."
The problem has become acute in recent years. In July 2023, for example, a 22-year-old Israeli Yeshiva student, who was identifiably Orthodox and visiting New York City for the summer holiday, was stabbed with a screwdriver by one of two men who attacked him after asking whether he was Jewish and had any money. The other punched him in the face. Earlier that year, 10- and 12-year-olds were attacked on Albany Avenue by four African American teens.
According to a report issued in August by New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, antisemitic incidents accounted for a striking 65 percent of all felony hate crimes in New York City last year. The report added that throughout the state, nearly 44 percent of all recorded hate crime incidents and 88 percent of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish victims.
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Friday, November 08, 2024
Hasidic Man Attacked in Third Antisemitic Assault in Brooklyn in Eight Days
An antisemitic hate crime spree in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York struck its latest victim on Wednesday, wreaking an "excruciating" beating on a middle-aged Hasidic man.
According to Yaacov Behrman, a liaison for Chabad Headquarters — the main New York base of the Hasidic movement — the victim was accosted by two assailants, one masked, who "chased and beat him" after he refused to surrender his cell phone in compliance with what appears to have been an attempted robbery.
"The victim is in excruciating pain and is currently in the emergency room," Behrman tweeted. "The police are investigating the incident."
The perpetrators were two Black teenagers, according to COLlive.com, an Orthodox Jewish news outlet.
Tuesday's attack was the third time in eight days that an Orthodox resident of Crown Heights was targeted for violence and humiliation. In each case, the assailant was allegedly a Black male, a pattern of conduct which continues to strain Black-Jewish relations across the Five Boroughs.
On Monday morning, an African American male smacked a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was commuting to school on his bike in the heavily Jewish Crown Heights neighborhood
Less than a week earlier, an assailant slashed a visibly Jewish man in the face as he was walking in Brooklyn.
Numerous antisemitic hate crimes have occurred in Crown Heights in recent years. In July 2023, for example, a 22-year-old Israeli Yeshiva student, who was identifiably Orthodox and visiting New York City for the summer holiday, was stabbed with a screwdriver by one of two men who attacked him after asking whether he was Jewish and had any money. The other punched him in the face. Earlier that year, 10- and 12-year-olds were attacked on Albany Avenue by four African American teens.
According to a report issued in August by New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, antisemitic incidents accounted for a striking 65 percent of all felony hate crimes in New York City last year. The report added that throughout the state, nearly 44 percent of all recorded hate crime incidents and 88 percent of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish victims.
Meanwhile, according to a recent Algemeiner review of New York City Police Department (NYPD) hate crimes data, 385 antisemitic hate crimes have struck the New York City Jewish community since last October, when the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas perpetrated its Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, unleashing a wave of anti-Jewish hatred unlike any seen in the post-World War II era.
Beyond New York, anti-Jewish hate crimes in the US spiked to a record high last year, and American Jews were the most targeted of any religious group in the country, according to a report published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in September.
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Tuesday, November 05, 2024
Jewish boy slapped in Orthodox Crown Heights neighbourhood of NYC
A 13-year-old Jewish boy was slapped in the face on his way to school in the Crown Heights neighbourhood of Brooklyn on Monday, prompting outrage amongst New York City's Orthodox Jewish community at the city's lack of action against rising antisemitism in the area.
Local Jewish leader Yaacov Behrman posted on X that the boy had been "riding his bike between Winthrop and Clarkson, near the hospital, when a man slapped him," adding that "he arrived at school shaken."
According to multiple accounts cited by NYC-based newspaper Algemeiner, the assailant was a black male.
Behrman, who is a liaison for Chabad Headquarters, the main New York hub for the Hasidic movement, said the school contacted the boy's parents as well as Crown Heights Shomrim, a neighbourhood patrol organisation that also monitors local antisemitism. Behrman also noted that the boy had filed a police report.
The incident marks the second assault on an Orthodox Jewish person in the Brooklyn neighbourhood in just a week, after a 30-year-old Jewish man was slashed in the face by an assailant last Tuesday.
"I'm fuming to the point I've got a migraine… You have kids who are 13 or 14 and have grown up with the attitude of 'if you get assaulted in the street, just take it because nothing is gonna be done'," Yisraeli Eliashiv, a teacher of the boy who was assaulted on Monday, told Algemeiner. "Those are the symptoms not of a sick but of a dead and decaying society.:
Eliashiv added that the assailant, who remains at large, "smacked [the boy] across the face for no reason other than hate. Thankfully, he got away before anything else happened."
According to Algemeiner, Eliashiv noted that his student did not initially think to notify the police because he did not believe the assailant would receive any punishment.
Crown Heights is home to a significant portion of the New York Jewish community, with Hasidic Jews representing roughly 25 per cent of the neighbourhood's population. It has also been the site of numerous crimes against Jewish residents in recent months, with over 385 antisemitic hate crimes taking place in the area since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, according to a review of the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) hate crimes data.
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Monday, November 04, 2024
Young Jewish-Iranian man executed by Islamic Republic
Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani, a twenty-year-old Iranian Jewish man, was executed in the Islamic Republic of Iran on Monday morning, Iran Human Rights and Israeli media reported.
Iran Human Rights is an NGO that tracks executions carried out by the Islamist regime in Tehran.
According to the organization, Ghahremani was arrested at the age of 18 on murder charges and was subsequently handed a death sentence.
The young man was reportedly executed at Kermanshah Central Prison.
Why was he sentenced to death?
Ghahremani's execution was postponed by Tehran authorities in May. He was sentenced to death over the alleged murder of Amir Shokri, who died following a street fight two years ago.
Advocates petitioned the court for a retrial but were rejected.
Ghahremani was reportedly ambushed outside a gym by Shokri and seven other men, according to documents obtained by the New York Post, and he fought back to defend himself.
The young Iranian Jew was sentenced to qisas, a sharia law. Shokri's family needed to forgive Ghahremani for the alleged killing in order to spare his life.
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Friday, November 01, 2024
Illegal immigrant accused of shooting Jewish man and police charged with hate crime
The suspect who shot and injured a 39-year-old Jewish man and fired at first responders in Chicago is facing felony charges.
Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi is believed to have targeted people of Jewish faith at Rogers Park during the weekend.
Detectives sifted through digital evidence to establish this case. Evidence from the offender's phone indicated he planned the shooting and specifically targeted people of Jewish faith. This evidence, allowed us to secure the terrorism and hate crime charges," Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling said at a news conference Thursday.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said, "We were able to determine that this individual plotted this particular community, sought out this particular community, sought out this particular faith, that the efforts to engage in this crime were not spur of the moment. They were not simply to rattle at the time, but to inflict terror.
Evidence shows Abdallahi was working alone, Snelling added.
Authorities have said the 22-year-old suspect fired several shots at the man who was walking to Temple on Saturday morning. He then fired at responding police officers and paramedics several times. Police returned fire, striking the gunman. Abdallahi, who was injured, remains hospitalized and hasn't been interviewed.
At the same news conference, Mayor Brandon Johnson and Foxx highlighted the city's zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism and the commitment to justice and community safety.
"There is absolutely no place in Chicago, for antisemitism. There's no place in our city or hatred directed towards our Jewish community," said Johnson."My administration and I, are committed to continuing this work with our partners across the city, to again ensure that we are all working together to put an end to the hatred towards our Jewish siblings. Antisemitism in Chicago does not reflect the soul of Chicago."
This charge sends a clear message any acts that seek to destabilize our communities through fear and hatred will face the fullest measure of accountability under the lost by simply hate has no choice," said Foxx.
Abdallah was also charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery, aggravated discharge of a firearm, and attempted murder of a police officer.
Abdallahi is a Mauritanian national who was encountered by U.S. Border Patrol in San Ysidro, California, on March 31, 2023, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement provided to CNN.
ICE "lodged an immigration detainer with Cook County Jail" on Tuesday, following Abdallahi's arrest, agency spokesperson Erin Bultje disclosed in the statement.
The shooting victim was released from the hospital on Saturday.
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Thursday, October 31, 2024
Man berates Jewish customer who was getting breakfast with his kid at kosher cafe in NYC: ‘Hitler was onto something’
A man berating a Jewish customer trying to enjoy breakfast with his young child inside a kosher cafe in Brooklyn — with disturbing video showing the unhinged man describing all Jewish people as "evil" and claiming Adolf Hitler "was onto something."
The footage, shot inside the Almah cafe, along Utica Avenue, shows the moment a man dressed in a pink hoodie confronts a customer on Thursday morning, demanding he give his opinion on the war in Gaza.
"You guys are killing babies," the man tells the frustrated father, adding that "something bad is going to happen" to Jewish people.
"Jewish people are evil," he repeatedly yells at the people inside the restaurant. "I think Hitler was onto something."
Along with the veiled threat, the man also claimed Jewish people were behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy and attempted assassinations of Donald Trump.
Almah cafe owner Shira Asias, 34, said she was shocked and embarrassed to see such hateful rhetoric spewed inside her own establishment.
Asias opened the cafe in 2020 with her husband, and she said the two of them have never witnessed anything like this before in their diverse neighborhood.
"This is the first time seeing something like this inside our own place," she told The Post. "I feel so ashamed and embarrassed.
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Wednesday, October 30, 2024
The high-stakes battle for the Skver vote
The battle for a key endorsement from a sizable Hasidic voting bloc in New York's Hudson Valley is reaching a crucial moment in the final days of a closely contested congressional race that could determine the balance of power in the House.
In an 11th-hour effort to court the Orthodox vote on Monday, the two top Democrats in Congress — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — paid a visit to the Hasidic village of New Square, where they met privately with Rabbi David Twersky, known as the Skverer rebbe, to boost the candidacy of former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) as he fights to reclaim his old House seat.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is expected to make a similar trek on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the situation. The visit would be his second trip to New Square in four months as he has sought to assist Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), a vulnerable incumbent facing Jones in New York's 17th Congressional District, which is home to one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country.
A spokesperson for Johnson said he has "several meetings with the Jewish community" on Thursday on Lawler's turf as well as a neighboring swing district where Alison Esposito, a Republican, is challenging Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), who claimed a major endorsement from the local Satmar Hasidic sect on Monday.
The focus on New Square, in particular, underscores the importance both parties place on securing an endorsement from the politically powerful Hasidic community in Rockland County, which includes some 3,000 votes that typically support candidates as a bloc and could make the difference in a tight race.
It also represents what may be the only major Hasidic enclave that could go either way in the election. During his first bid for Congress in 2020, Jones won a key endorsement from New Square — even as former President Donald Trump carried the village with nearly unanimous support from voters. President Joe Biden won the district by 10 points the same year.
Last cycle, Jewish leaders in New Square endorsed former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) thanks to behind-the-scenes advocacy from former President Bill Clinton and Biden — the latter of whom placed a personal call to Twersky in the final leg of the race.
Representatives for Biden and Clinton did not respond to requests for comment regarding the matchup between Jones and Lawler, which has grown increasingly acrimonious in recent weeks.
During his tenure, Lawler has actively engaged in outreach to New Square, as Republican leaders have made continued overtures to the village, including a March 2023 visit by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Following McCarthy's ouster last October, Jones, who lost his seat when he chose to run in a separate district in New York City, faced scrutiny for calling the meeting "a waste of everyone's time" in a social media comment that was deemed offensive to many Orthodox Jews in the district. In response, Jones said the post had been misinterpreted, and that he meant "to communicate that Kevin McCarthy, and by extension Mike Lawler, cannot possibly deliver for communities in Rockland because he's no longer Speaker."
In a statement shared with Jewish Insider on Tuesday, Jones said he had also met on Monday with Jewish leaders in Kaser, another Hasidic village in the district, "to discuss the issues important to our ultra-Orthodox communities."
"I was proud to represent our growing Hasidic communities in Congress, and to have delivered resources and services in a way Mike Lawler has not due to the chaos and dysfunction of his failed Republican majority," Jones added, noting he is "going everywhere in the district to make my case to voters."
But this cycle, Lawler, whose narrow upset over Maloney in 2022 was attributed largely to strong backing from Orthodox voters in Rockland County, is expected to lock up an endorsement from New Square that had remained elusive in his first race, according to Jewish leaders in the district familiar with the matter.
"I would be totally shocked if they went the other way," said one of the Jewish leaders, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss the race with JI on Tuesday. "Lawler has worked very diligently to woo the community and has been directly responsible for bringing substantial funding back into the community."
A spokesperson for Lawler did not respond to a request for comment from JI on Tuesday, nor did a political adviser to Twersky, whose community has long typically issued its endorsements near the end of the general election.
In a recent interview with JI, meanwhile, Lawler predicted that he would once again win strong backing from the Orthodox community, whose support he is depending on in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 80,000 voters.
"The issues that people are focused on, from the affordability crisis to the migrant crisis to the crises around the globe — including the conflict in the Middle East — are issues that I've been heavily focused on and done a lot of work on in Congress," he said.
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Monday, October 28, 2024
'Harris is bad for Jews': Satmar hasidim to support Trump's candidacy
Grand Rabbi Aharon Teitelbaum's Satmar hasidic sect in New York has announced that it will officially support former US President Donald Trump's candidacy for US president.
The decision follows a set of discussions by the Satmar leadership, due to concerns that US Vice President Kamala Harris may pose a threat to the "Jewish people" if she is elected president.
The support means tens of thousands of additional votes for Trump, in a neck-to-neck race.
Satmar will also provide free transportation to voting booths for early voting.
The second sect of Satmar hasidim who follow Grand Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, has not yet issued an official announcement, but it is expected that they, too, will support Trump.
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GOP candidate Alison Esposito says she’s courting key Hasidic vote in battleground upstate NY district
Republican congressional candidate Alison Esposito says she's courting key Hasidic voters in New York's battleground 18th District in the run up to election day.
Esposito touted her outreach effort while pushing back against a recent New York Times report suggesting leaders of the Satmar Jewish sects are planning to back her Democratic opponent, Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY).
"We don't believe that," Esposito told The Post editorial board during an interview, in reference to the Times report.
"We have had meetings. I have been doorknocking. There was a recent meet and greet. There's a meeting scheduled with some of the hierarchy in the different areas, but I don't believe that," the former NYPD Deputy Inspector said.
The 18th Congressional District includes the village of Kiryas Joel, home to a quickly expanding and ever more influential group of Orthodox Jewish voters.
The Town of Palm Tree, which includes Kiryas Joel, significantly backed Ryan over his Republican opponent, Assemblyman Colin Schmitt, in 2022. Ryan carried 4,134 votes in Palm Tree compared with Schmitt's 2,607 last cycle.
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Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Chabad rabbis give Netanyahu Chassidic text printed in Lebanon
In a symbolic move on Tuesday, a delegation of Chabad-Lubvitch rabbis presented Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an early work of Chassidic philosophy by the first Chabad rabbi printed in various places in Lebanon during the First Lebanon War in 1982.
The Tanya, written by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Chassidism, was first published in 1796.
The rabbis also gave the prime minister the traditional "Four Species" used during the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins on Wednesday evening. They include the lulav, etrog, myrtle and willow.
"We must be strong, resourceful and hope for assistance from Heaven," Netanyahu told them, according to his office. "This is a long war; it does not proceed as we might prefer. There are good days and less good days, but the main thing is to strive for victory."
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Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Lufthansa Fined $4 Million Over Alleged Discrimination of Jewish Passengers
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced a $4 million penalty on Tuesday against Lufthansa for discriminating against Jewish passengers who were traveling from New York City through Frankfurt to Budapest in May 2022.
The penalty is the largest ever issued by the DOT against an airline for civil rights violations.
A news release from the DOT stated that Lufthansa prohibited 128 Jewish passengers from boarding their connecting flight in Germany after alleged misconduct of some passengers. The release stated that most of the Jewish passengers were wearing distinctive garb typically worn by Orthodox Jewish men, and many of the passengers did not know each other nor were traveling together.
These passengers stated that Lufthansa treated them all as if they were a single group and denied them boarding for the alleged misbehavior of a few. The DOT received over 40 discrimination complaints from the Jewish passengers.
"No one should face discrimination when they travel, and today's action sends a clear message to the airline industry that we are prepared to investigate and take action whenever passengers' civil rights are violated," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in the release. "From cracking down on long tarmac delays to ensuring passengers are properly refunded, our department has strengthened our enforcement efforts to hold airlines accountable for their treatment of passengers, and we will continue to push the industry to serve passengers with the fairness and dignity they deserve."
Investigations by the DOT found that during the first flight, the captain alerted Lufthansa security that some passengers were not following crew instructions and were connecting to another flight in Budapest. The release stated that the carrier later failed to identify any one passenger who failed to follow crewmember instructions.
The alert to security resulted in a hold being placed on over 100 passengers' tickets – all of which were Jewish. These passengers then couldn't board their next scheduled flight from Frankfurt to Budapest.
According to the DOT's consent order, Lufthansa stated that a large number of the passengers aboard the flight arriving at Frankfurt repeatedly disregarded crew instructions to wear face masks, which at the time was mandated under German law due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Additionally, Lufthansa stated that passengers were requested to avoid gathering in the aisles, galleys, and near emergency exit doors, as is required under U.S. and German law.
"Lufthansa steadfastly maintains that the actions of the crew of LH 401 were taken in the interest of safety and security," the consent order stated. "Lufthansa states that the crew of LH 401 did not discriminate against any passenger on the basis of perceived religion or ethnicity or manifest any intentional malice or ill intent toward any passenger. Lufthansa notes that certain flight attendants on LH401 permitted and facilitated praying by small gatherings of passengers during the flight, which the carrier asserts underscores the Lufthansa crew's lack of any discriminatory feelings or actions toward any of the passengers."
According to the consent order, $2 million of the $4 million penalty will be due within 30 days of the order. The remaining $2 million is being credited for compensation Lufthansa paid to the affected passengers.
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Monday, October 14, 2024
Anti-Israel protesters arrested after storming New York Stock Exchange
Dozens of Jewish anti-Israel protesters were arrested Monday after hundreds of rowdy demonstrators rushed the New York Stock Exchange and staged a sit-in outside the historic Manhattan building.
Scores of pro-Palestinian protesters wearing red shirts stormed toward the building on Broad Street in Lower Manhattan — then chained themselves to the doors just before the stock market's opening bell at 9:30 a.m., footage shows.
A handful of demonstrators, who hail from the Jewish Voices for Peace group, could be seen removing their jackets as they set up shop outside the building — jackets they wore in a possible bid to conceal their anti-Israel attire and thwart any attempt to stop them ahead of time.
The group immediately started screaming "Free Palestine" and quickly brandished signs reading "Jews for Palestine's freedom" as they blocked off the building and demanded the US government "fund FEMA, not genocide."
At one point, they dressed the iconic bronze Fearless Girl statue in one of their shirts emblazoned with the phrase "Stop arming Israel."
Roughly 200 protesters were nabbed by cops, the group's political director, Beth Miller, told The Post.
The NYPD confirmed that arrests were made amid the chaos, but the exact number wasn't immediately available.
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Friday, October 11, 2024
Armed guards at synagogues, security forces on high alert on Yom Kippur
Synagogues in major cities and susceptible areas will be under armed guard on Yom Kippur amid concerns that terrorists will try to launch attacks on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Police deployment was already spread to major highways and city centers with special attention placed on mixed Jewish and Arab cities where tensions have traditionally been high during the holiday.
Synagogues were asked to place an armed guard outside their door and leave a phone available to call for help if the need arises.
Jerusalem police will be on high alert around the city and at the Western Wall, to bolster the sense of security for Jewish worshipers. Checkpoints will also be set up leading to the holy site for increased security and to prevent overcrowding.
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Tuesday, October 08, 2024
Interior Minister responds to Breslov hasidim stranded abroad
Due to the chaos at the borders of Ukraine and Romania, which has caused thousands of Breslov hasidim to be unable to return home to Israel, representatives for the Breslov community have turned to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel (Shas) for assistance.
In their request, the hasidim noted the chaos and the overcrowding which travelers faced in their attempts to return to Israel following their Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) pilgrimage to Uman, Ukraine.
Responding to one of the requests, Arbel answered that he has no way to help them, since, "Israel is at war."
"We are at war right now, and there was a travel warning," he wrote. "Whoever decided to travel anyway should take into account the risks which come with it."
"I am sorry. I do not have any way to help," he apologized. The government issued clear warnings to Israeli citizens not to travel to Uman for the holidays this year.
According to sources in the community, many people are forced to wait in inclement weather, without proper shelter.
A senior source in United Breslov said, "The Ukrainians have created an electronic line and they only accept those who booked an appointment ahead of time. And sometimes there are no open appointments for the border for many hours ahead. It creates insane chaos."
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Wednesday, October 02, 2024
Gerrer hasidim to hold Rosh Hashanah events as usual after Home Front restrictions removed
The Gur hasidic sect on Wednesday morning announced that the traditional "travel" for the Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) holiday will take place as usual this year, in light of the Home Front Command's new guidelines.
Just after midnight Wednesday morning, the IDF's Home Front Command announced that restrictions imposed on Jerusalem and central Israel on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00p.m. would be removed. The restrictions, which led to the cancellation of the central Selichot prayer gathering at the Western Wall, included a limit on gatherings of more than 30 people outdoors and more than 300 people indoors.
The limits forced Jews around Israel to rethink their plans for Rosh Hashanah, especially if the plans included large gatherings, as is customary in many hasidic courts.
"Upon removal of the Home Front Command restrictions, an announcement was made this morning by the Gerrer hasidic court to hold the events as usual," a Gur statement read.
Rabbi Yosef Schiff, aide to the Gerrer Rebbe, who on Tuesday night ordered hasidim to return home due to the security threats, on Wednesday morning reported that the decision had changed in light of recent developments.
Alongside the Gerrer hasidim, thousands of families from other hasidic courts around Israel are expected to travel to Jerusalem and Bnei Brak on Wednesday, in order to celebrate the holiday with their rebbe (hasidic leader) and fellow hasidim.
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Tuesday, October 01, 2024
President cancels Rosh Hashanah call with US Jewish community
U.S. President Joe Biden canceled a planned Rosh Hashanah call with the Jewish community that had been scheduled for 1:15 pm Eastern Standard Time. Earlier in the day, the U.S. administration had previously warned its employees in Israel to return to their homes and warned of an imminent attack on the Jewish state.
Posting on X at 12:40 this afternoon, the president wrote, "This morning, @VP and I convened our national security team to discuss Iranian plans to launch an imminent missile attack against Israel. We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks, and protect American personnel in the region."
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on X that he had spoken with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant about the then-pending Iranian attack and "the severe consequences for Iran in the event Iran chooses to launch a direct military attack against Israel."
U.S. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) posted on X, "Iran is launching missiles against Israel. Israel has an unquestionable right to defend itself against all forms of Iranian aggression. The United States should, must and will stand with the Jewish State as it defends itself from the root of all evil in the Middle East—the Islamic Republic of Iran. I stand with Israel. Always have and always will. #AmYisraslChai."
"This is a moment of choosing for the free world regarding Iran, said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on X. "The Ayatollah [Ali Khamenei] and Iranian regime are religious Nazis who want to destroy the State of Israel—their words, not mine. They want to purify Islam and attack the United States—again, their words, not mine.
"This missile attack against Israel should be the breaking point, and I would urge the Biden administration to coordinate an overwhelming response with Israel, starting with Iran's ability to refine oil," Graham said. "These oil refineries need to be hit and hit hard because that is the source of cash for the regime to perpetrate their terror. My prayers are with the people of Israel, and may God continue to bless Israel."
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Monday, September 30, 2024
The Hasid’s triumphant blow
There's an ancient Jewish custom of charity collectors coming to synagogue during the weekday morning prayers, and a slightly less ancient Ashkenazic Jewish tradition of blowing the shofar each day following those prayers in the month of Elul — the four weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah.
Recently at one such service in Jerusalem, a stout reddish, grayish Hasidic schnorrer (donation collector) entered a nondescript synagogue basement sanctuary where about 30 men were in the middle of their morning prayers. Sometimes, schnorrers like this one will approach people mid-prayer, asking for a few shekels to help a poor family with many children or an ill parent. Other times, they will respectfully, yet impatiently wait until the end of davening in order to get everyone's attention at once, hopefully benefitting from their largesse, as well.
This particular Hasid generally fit into the second of those categories. As the end of prayers neared, seeing an unmanned shofar on the lectern in the middle of the room, this particular Hasid made an ambitiously instinctive decision: He would be the one to blow the shofar at the end of prayers.
It was as if God himself had placed the shofar there — A blessed opportunity to get everybody's attention all at once and collect a bounty for hungry children dependent on the generosity of the men in that room.
He began to wander over to it. As prayers concluded, the zaftig little man with twinkly optimism in his eyes triumphantly raised the ram's horn, tilted his head to the heavens, placed the shofar at his lips and began to blow.
The sound that came out was reminiscent of a moribund goat trying to blow a shofar with its last dying breath.
It was as if the Hasid had never even seen a shofar before, let alone tried to blow one.
In his defense, even experienced blowers sometimes experience a showing such as this – if, for example, they're not used to that particular horn, or forgot to ensure that the pipe was clear.
It seems, however, that this particular Hasid was not that type of shofar blower.
This particular Hasid, it seems, was just a really bad shofar blower.
God bless him, this particular Hasid kept trying.
Whether it was 30 seconds, a minute or two, he really gave it a shot.
Ultimately, the shot didn't work and someone else from the crowd came to salvage the blow.
The Hasid's tilted head fell downward. He dejectedly shook his shoulders and smiled a bit, accepting the fact that he had given it a shot and, for some reason, it hadn't worked out.
From me, and perhaps some others, that particular Hasidic's act elicited a kind of strange, curious respect.
It also raised a lot of questions.
Had he ever blown a shofar before?
Did he anticipate being able to deliver a true, triumphant blow?
Days later, still pondering the incident, I wondered if perhaps it had all been intentional in the first place. After all, a performance like that actually probably drew more attention than if his shofar blowing had been up to par.
Nonetheless, despite the bizarre absurdity of the event, I ultimately realized that — like many unexpected places in life — perhaps we all actually have a lot to learn from this particular Hasid, especially as we approach the New Year.
Maybe this particular Hasid had come to that particular synagogue that particular Elul morning to teach us about taking chances.
Embracing the potential to fail.
Not fearing embarrassment.
Getting over ourselves.
Aiming high, even if we know deep down that we have no clue how to actually get there.
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