Carol Kopelman

Bernard Wasserman

Michelle Reisner

David Sarnoff

Leo Rettig

Rabbi Irving Spielman

Paige Soltano

Lily Schulman

Lisa Tiedeman

Helen Tobenkin

Sydney Josif

Ethel & David Chesen

A bit more on the academic boycott

While I was researching various Palestinian views on the boycott, I came across information about a cooperative agreement between Brandeis University and Al Quds. I also discovered that Islamic Jihad had led a protest march on the Al Quds campus which featured the Nazi salute. Brandeis asked Sari Nusseibeh to issue a statement condemning the action. I, too, was surprised, that this fairly liberal man with an amazing sense of fairness, issued such an unsatisfactory response. Click here to read. Brandeis severed the relationship, click here to read more. 

And it got me thinking: Al Quds University - and all the other Palestinian universities, both in the West Bank and in Gaza - how old are they? When were they created?

Al Quds: 1984. In fact, all of the Palestinian universities (including the Islamic University in Gaza) with the exception of two, were founded at least 10 years after the June 1967 war. And those two...Birzeit, near Ramallah, was the "college" when it opened in 1942 and it only became University in 1975. And the oldest institution, Bethlehem University, was founded in 1893 by the De La Salle Christian brothers.

What does this tell us? It tells us that Jordanian and Egyptian rule did nothing but stifle intellectual and academic pursuits in the West Bank and Gaza. In contrast, the Palestinians owe Israel a great deal and the great debt in this regard, which they will probably never acknowledge.

And that's an inconvenient truth which academic societies the world over will also never take into their considerations as they contemplate boycott resolutions.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

As I informed you last week, this past

Monday (January 27th) was Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Before you read the Jerusalem Post editorial taking Baroness Catherine Ashton, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and vice president of the European Commission, to task for her statement, you might wish to read it and the other statement referred to in the editorial:

Statement last Monday: "Today the international community remembers the victims of the Holocaust. We honor every one of those brutally murdered in the darkest period of European history. We also want to pay a special tribute to all those who acted with courage and sacrifice to protect their fellow citizens against persecution."

"On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we must keep alive the memory of this tragedy. It is an occasion to remind us all of the need to continue fighting prejudice and racism in our own time. We must remain vigilant against the dangers of hate speech and redouble our commitment to prevent any form of intolerance. The respect of human rights and diversity lies at the heart of what the European Union stands for."

Statement following Toulouse Yeshiva Shooting in which 3 were killed by drive-by motorcyclist: "And in days when we remember young people who have been killed in all sorts of terrible circumstances, the Belgian children having lost their lives in a terrible tragedy... when we remember what happened in Toulouse today, when we remember what happened when I was in Norway last week a year ago, when we know what's happening in Syria, when we see what's happened in Gaza and Sredot. In different parts of the world, we remember young people and children who lose their lives."

Click here for the JPost editorial. Her moral equivalence, and her inability to say anything about Jews without mentioning other groups or incidents in this and other circumstances, makes her either anti-Semite or a leader without any credibility. Unfortunately, until she steps down or is removed, she will remain an "authority."

NEXT "ON ONE FOOT"

(A series of brief, monthly presentations by the Rabbi)

Sunday, February 9th - 11:15am

For Hebrew School Parents (and anyone else who is interested)

         TOPIC  II: 

* A certain non-Jew came before Shammai and said to him, "I will convert to Judaism, on condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot." Shammai chased him away. He came before Hillel and said to him, "Convert me." Hillel said to him, "What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary; go and learn it."

Rabbi Ken Stern is planning a bi-coastal trip to visit the Gesher Shalom Snowbirds: February 23rd- February 27th

Call or email the Shul with your cell phone and email addresses by February 15th!

Way to go, Mia!

2 weeks ago it was Heidi Skolnik (she was on Dr. Oz this week) This week it's Mia Wasserman. 

Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger marched to the tune of his own drummer-and perhaps more so where Israel was concerned.

No Israel Boycott for Pete Seeger: Click here to read. 

Yediot Achronot also wrote about his mixed stance...included in this article is a video of Pete and The Weavers singing Tzena, Tzena: Click here to read.

Here is the text to the English stanzas the Weavers sing

(no mention of the chayalim/soldiers):
 

Can't you hear the music playing
In the city square?
Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Tzena,
Come where all our friends will find us
With the dancers there.

Tzena, Tzena! Join the celebration.
There'll be people there from every nation.
Dawn will find us laughing in the sunlight,
Dancing in the city square.

Tzena, Tzena, (CLAP), Come and dance the hora.
Dance the dabkeh. All of us will dance together.
Tzena, Tzena, (CLAP), When the band is playing,
My heart's saying, "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena!"

Click here to read "The Year Pete Seeger Didn't Sing in Hebrew."  

David Broza wrote about performing with him at the Museum of the City of New York. Click here to read his reflections. 

Video clip from the finale:

RIP Pete Seeger "Irene Goodnight" @ The Museum of The City of NY FOLK CITY 6/20/13

And tonight the Cantor will chant Mi Chamocha (the famous line from the Exodus from Egypt) to We Shall Overcome.

TORAH Page 485, 930  HAFTARAH Page 1220

T'RUMAH

Moses is commanded by God to construct a portable Sanctuary in accordance with detailed instructions about its size, its materials, and the various ancillary ritual objects with which it is to be furnished.  For these purposes the people were asked to make a free-will offering (Terumah) of metals, fabrics, skins, wood, precious stones, oil and spices.

The outer court of the Sanctuary was a rectangular structure without a roof that was surrounded by curtains.  It contained an altar for burnt offerings and a washstand for the priests.  All Israelites could enter this area.

The Tabernacle was divided into two sections, separated by a veil.  Only priests were permitted to enter this area.  It contained an altar for incense, the seven-branched Menorah and a table for the showbread.

The inner chamber of the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, contained the Ark of the Covenant; the high priest was accorded access, but only on Yom Kippur.

Our sidra provides specific instructions about the design of each of these structures and their furnishings.