International and
National |
'Why be Jewish?' topic of
Bronfman conference in Utah
NEW YORK (Press Release)— The Samuel Bronfman Foundation announced today
that it will hold a conference on the question “Why Be Jewish?” July 29
– 31 in Park City, Utah. Adam Bronfman, the Foundation’s managing
director, and Rabbi Eliyahu Stern, the conference coordinator, will
serve as hosts. The conference seeks to place ideas, values, and
long-term vision at the forefront of Jewish philanthropy and public
policy planning.
Participants in the conference’s three days of presentations, study and
discussion include an international group of leading Jewish writers and
thinkers, such as:
David Ellenson (President of Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion), Tova Hartman (Professor of
Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Bernard-Henri Lévy
(French intellectual and author), Wendy Mogel (author and clinical
psychologist), Avi Weiss (Rabbi of Hebrew Institute of Riverdale and
Founding Director of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah), Leon Wieseltier (author
and literary editor of the New
Republic), Art Green (Rector of Hebrew College Rabbinical
School), Anita Diamant (author), Gidi Grinstein (Founder and President,
Re’ut Institute), Daniel Boyarin (Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture
at U.C. Berkeley), Esther Perel (therapist and author), and Edgar M.
Bronfman (President of The Samuel Bronfman Foundation).
Adam Bronfman said, “In an age when people
must opt into Jewish life, our aim is to identify the core values of
Judaism that are compelling today. If anyone is up to that challenge, it
is this group.”
Eliyahu Stern said, “Over the last fifteen
years, massive amounts of philanthropic dollars have been spent on
Jewish continuity projects. But Judaism has to be more than a numbers
game. Demographic projects will ultimately fail if they are not guided
by a long-term vision.”
The lead plenary session of the conference,
which is open to the public, will be held on Monday, July 30 at the
Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah, and will feature French
intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy, Israeli spiritual leader Tova Hartman
and American literary critic Leon Wieseltier on the topic: “Why be
Religious in an Age of Fundamentalism?”
The foregoing story was
provided by the Samuel Bronfman Foundation.
_________________
|
Letter from
Jerusalem
By Ira Sharkansky |
'Boycott? What
boycott?' ask British lay persons
JERUSALEM—It
was a peaceful two weeks in the Southwest of England. But not according
to Israel Radio, which we heard daily. The headlines and discussion
focused on the proposal of a union of British university lecturers to
boycott Israeli academics. There was not yet a decision to boycott, and
it might not come. Rather, a small group of active Israel-bashers
controlled a poorly attended union meeting with only a couple of hundred
from more than 100,000 or so members. By a divided vote, they decided that local chapters would discuss a
boycott.
We listened daily to BBC, and heard nothing
about this. A British rabbi I met on the El Al flight home noticed the
issue only in the Jewish press.
A case of Israeli paranoia? Commentators in
the Holy Land were worrying that the boycott would spread to unions of
physicians, journalists, dock workers, and other industries, as well as
to unions on the Continent. But they also quoted senior British government
personnel who strongly opposed any boycotts of Israel, as did the leader
of the lecturers' union that had its meeting. She was hoping that more
widespread discussion would kill the idea. There is also another one or
two unions of lecturers' that have not gone this far toward a boycott.
Reporters noted that fever was highest on the campuses that have the
least contacts with Israelis. My colleagues wanting contacts with
Oxford, Cambridge, and the London School of Economics will probably do
all right, while those wanting a sabbatical at Back of Nowhere Technical
College might be disappointed.
Assuming that boycott organizers are
concerned that Israel has been nasty to the Palestinians, they have
chosen a poor target for their wrath. No sector of this society is most
sympathetic to the Palestinians than university lecturers. Punishing
them hardly seems likely to aid the Palestinian cause.
Early news was that an American Jewish
Nobel laureate responded to the prospect of a boycott with one of his
own. He cancelled a lecture he had agreed to give at a British
university. In a profession with more than a few Jews, the activists
might not get away without some wounds of their own.
I have had numerous contacts, meaningful
personally and professionally, with British academics from a variety of
institutions. Some have published my research, and some have written me
letters of rejection that, in retrospect, were deserved. One of the
rejections was not so convincing. Googling showed that the editor was
best known for some anti-American and anti-Israeli pieces that were more
like rants than analyses. His address is the University of
Loughborough, which until that experience, and since, has not impressed me as a center of
anything.
In none of our recent contacts did we
perceive anything negative when asked about our origins. Maybe the
British are too polite to spoil a visitor's holiday. Or maybe we were
fortunate in avoiding university lecturers.
Every time I looked at a map or read a road
sign I thought I was somewhere else. I saw directions to Tiverton,
Taunton, Swansea, Somerset, Plymouth, Bristol, Dartmouth, Falmouth,
Weymouth, and Wells. Bridgwater and Barnstaple are not spelled in the
Massachusetts' way, but the roots are there nonetheless. Fall River did
not make it to the maps that I used.
I will spare you almost all of our 331
pictures. But not all of them. Here are two from the Exeter-Bath
segment of our trip.
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Olmert holds meetings with Senator
Joseph Lieberman and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist
JERUSALEM (Press Release) —Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has met
recently with U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (Independent, Connecticut) and
with Florida Governor Charlie Crist,
a Republican.
At the meeting Sunday, June 3, with Lieberman, the two men discussed
Israeli-Palestinian relations; the Senator briefed the Prime Minister on his
meetings with Palestinian Authority President Abu Mazen.
Prime Minister Olmert
described the difficulties on contacts posed by the continued firing of
Kassam rockets at Israel and the strengthening of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Olmert
expressed his deep appreciation for Sen. Lieberman’s courage and for
honoring his principles on issues related to Israel.
The two men also
discussed US policy toward Iraq and the link between Iraq and the US and
international ability to deal with the Iranian threat. Prime Minister
Olmert expressed the hope
that the international community’s actions to isolate Iran will continue and
noted that there is agreement regarding the threat posed by Iran to both
Israel and the world.
In
the meeting with Governor Crist on Thursday, May 31, the two men discussed
the deep ties between Israel and Florida and continued cooperation,
especially in the economic and commercial fields.
Gov. Crist
commended the cooperation in the field of research and development and said
that he ascribes great importance to Florida’s economic
Olmert and Crist
ties with Israel. He said that upon his return to Tallahassee, he would
sign an order barring the state from holding commercial and economic ties
with elements with links to Iran as long as it does not retract its
statements against Israel.
Prime
Minister Olmert thanked Florida Gov. Crist and emphasized the importance of
Israel-Florida ties: “I am proud that the State of Israel can contribute to
Florida in various fields and am pleased that our mutual ties are fruitful
in many areas.”
Information for the foregoing story was provided by the office of
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
A Herald in Zion....
Notes from Mevasseret Zion
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson |
Month-long
study qualified us as Israel Museum docents
MEVASSERET ZION, ISRAEL—Israel possesses many places of archaeological,
historical and religious significance for all mankind. The modern state has
constructed buildings and established sites with meaning of a more contemporary
and/or national character. But there can be few spots which combine so many
levels of significance for so many people as the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
In the forty
years since it was founded the museum has grown from a modest assortment of
artworks and archaeological artifacts to one of the world’s most extensive
collections, encompassing Jewish ethnography, Israeli art, period rooms,
American and African art, archaeology, a very respectable collection of
Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and modern art
and sculpture, as well as a few Old Masters, Judaica, and, of course the Dead
Sea Scrolls,
housed in their own unique building, the Shrine of the Book.
The scale
model of Jerusalem in the time of the Second Temple which was formerly situated
in the grounds of the Holyland Hotel has recently been added to the museum’s
collection,
adding yet another dimension to what was already a wide-ranging collection.
When my
husband and I retired, we sought a channel for our abilities and decided to
contact
the Museum, where we were promptly enrolled as volunteer ‘hosts.’.
After
completing a one-month course of lectures and tours in an attempt to familiarize
us with
the museum’s labyrinthine galleries, we were each issued with a wine-coloured
waistcoat and a scarf bearing the museum’s logo, sent to our appointed places
and told to help visitors find whatever it was they were looking for.
All through
the year the museum throbs with visitors from every corner of the world intent
on passing some time in its cool interior and benefiting from its cultural
offerings. Many enquiries
are about mundane things such as eateries and toilets, but we are also able to
help visitors find specific exhibitions or displays about which they have heard.
We greatly enjoy being part of the community of the Israel Museum.
Dorothea
Shefer-Vanson, a freelance writer and translator, made aliyah from England in
1965. This article is reprinted from the
AJR Journal (Association of Jewish
Refugees) in England.
----------------------------
Anti-Defamation League urges Norway, South Africa
to refrain from direct diplomacy with Hamas
NEW YORK (Press
Release)— The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today urged the governments of Norway
and South Africa to reconsider their contacts with the Hamas-led Palestinian
government, saying that such actions undermine the international community's
message to Hamas "that it cannot begin to achieve legitimacy until it expressly
renounces violence and recognizes Israel's right to exist."
Norway has resumed direct aid to the Palestinian administration, abandoning the
approach adhered to by the international community. South Africa recently
extended an invitation to top Hamas officials, including Prime Minister Ismail
Haniyeh, to visit that country for official meetings with the government.
In a letter to His Excellency Jonas Gahr Støre, Norway's Minister of Foreign
Affairs, ADL leaders urged him "to reconsider your government's latest change of
police before it seriously undermines the efforts of the international community
to unambiguously maintain the morally correct position regarding Hamas'
murderous acts of terror and its stated goal of eliminating a member state of
the United Nations."
"There is no possible justification for
Norway's abandoning the approach adhered to by the international community which
has sent the consistent message to Hamas that it cannot begin to achieve
legitimacy until it expressly renounces violence and recognizes Israel's right
to exist," said Glen S. Lewy, ADL National Chair and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL
National Director.
In a
letter to the South African Ambassador to the U.S., Barbara Joyce Masekela,
ADL leaders said they were "troubled" by reports that Ronnie Kasrils, a minister
in the South African government, has met publicly with Hamas officials and
conveyed and invitation to the Hamas prime minister to visit South Africa
The foregoing article was provided by the
Anti-Defamation League
Jews
in the News
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like you, we're pleased when members of our community are
praiseworthy, and are disappointed when they are blameworthy.
Whether
it's good news or bad news, we'll try to keep track of what's being said in
general media about our fellow Jews.
Our news spotters are Dan Brin in Los Angeles, Donald H. Harrison in San Diego,
and you. Wherever you are, if you see a story of interest, please send a
summary and link to us at sdheritage@cox.net.
To
see a source story click on the link within the respective paragraph.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
*Gabe Cohen doubled with the bases loaded to put the UCLA Bruins
ahead 5-4 over Long Beach State in Pac 10 action on Sunday night. The
Bruins went on to win 7-4 and advanced to the super regional. The
story by Peter Moon is in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Sasha Baron Cohen of Borat fame was a winner at the MTV Movie
Awards on Sunday. The Public Eye
column of the San Diego Union-Tribune has the story.
*U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, both
California Democrats, have emerged as strong advocates for the Immigration
Bill's provisions to provide pathways to citizenship for agricultural
workers. The Copley News Service
story by Jerry Kammer is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan) is preparing an
amendment that would require the president to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq
within 120 days after its passage. Democratic pressure on Republicans
on this issue is likely to be unremitting. Naom N. Levey has the
story in today's Los Angeles Times.
*Adam Levine and Maroon 5 have some mega-hits, yet they chose a
concert venue that could seat only 450 for their concert. What's behind it?
The
story by Mikael Wood is in today' Los Angeles Times.
*Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel planned to
continue to have its security services take action in Palestinian
territories. Meanwhile, Hamas said it has stopped firing rockets at
civilian targets and instead is firing mortars at military targets like
border crossings. The New York Times News Service
story is in today's San Diego Union-Tribune.
*David Rosenzweig, a Los Angeles Times reporter who
covered the Vietnam War, Symbionese Liberation Army and the Hillside
Strangler case, has died at 67. The
obituary by the Associated Press is in today's San Diego
Union-Tribune.
*Phil Thalheimer, a Republican
who has been active in the campaign to preserve the cross atop Mount Soledad
as a war memorial, is expected to run in the upcoming race for the 1st
District San Diego City Council seat. On the other hand, Julie
Dubick, now serving as a policy advisor to Mayor Jerry Sanders, says she
will not be a candidate. The
story by Evan McLaughlin is in today's Voice of San Diego.
(return to
top)
_________________________________________________
The Jewish Grapevine
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMUNITY WATCH—The Jewish American Chamber of Commerce is exploring
the possibility of creating a Jewish-interest radio show in San Diego.
CONGREGATIONAL CURRENTS—Congregation Beth Israel will bid farewell at
7:30 p.m. Shabbat services June 22 to Rabbi Paul & Susie Citrin as
they complete their three-year assignment in San Diego. Rabbi Michael
Berk succeeds him. ... A burned Torah panel believed to have come from a
synagogue in Ostrov, Poland, was donated by Lou & Estelle Dunst to
Congregation Beth Israel as an historical artifact. The panel along with
other damaged ones were replaced by Torah sefer Alberto Attia and the
repaired scroll was put back into the service of the Jewish people in Los
Gatos, California...When Barbara Howarth was installed two years ago
as president of Beth Israel, a friend said, in a gaffe, "congratulations on
your pregnancy." Completing her term, Howarth says in a way it was indeed
like a pregnancy. "The only thing that really matters about either of
them is the outcome." Among many accomplishments over the last
two years, Howarth mentioned the establishment of a teen lounge "for kids to
hang out and be comfortable in their second home'... WE began to have
greeters at services and major events to help members and visitors feel
welcome." And, she noted with an exclamation point, "We brought
back ice cream to the Oneg Shabbat!"
CYBER-REFERRALS—Bruce Kesler recommends an article by Nat
Hentoff on the Jewish World Review questioning why in the world the United
States wants to remain in the United Nations when, among other
astonishing developments, the chair of its Disarmament
Commission is Syria and its vice chair is Iran. Here's
a link.
....Christian Micoine found
this
article by Hannah Goff on the BBC website about the proposed academic
boycott of Israel. It provides some worthwhile background for those
mapping strategies to oppose it.
'FREE' TICKETS, BOOKS, OTHER GOODIES—Notice those little quotation marks
around the word 'free.' Those are to indicate that even though you
won't pay for them with money, you will pay for them with your talent.
San Diego Jewish World wants to recruit reviewers of various sorts, to
report upon Jewish developments in books, CDS, movies, television, concerts,
visual arts, photography, cooking, various hobbies like philately,
numismatics, and others. You name it, if you have some expertise in
the subject, we'd like to see your writing samples, and perhaps you will be
picked to join our growing cadre of volunteer columnists. Please
email inquiries and writing samples
to editor Don Harrison.
IN MEMORY—Sharon Weissmann, 65, daughter of Charles and Helen
Weissmann and sister of Mark Weissmann, died May 27 and was
buried at Home of Peace Cemetery. A short obituary is in today's
San Diego Union-Tribune.
Inter-religious confab in L.A. probed 'Challenge
of Respect'
By Pastor Bill Harman
LOS ANGELES—Last month in Los Angeles, Southern California interfaith
communities gathered at the Omar Ibn Al Khattab Foundation Mosque in Los
Angeles near the University of Southern California campus for a day of looking
at "The Challenge of Respect: Celebrating Interfaith Commonality, Exploring
Religious Differences.”
Two hundred fifty peoples of a variety of world religions and faith groups in
the LA area as well as 15 participants from North San Diego County spent the
day in a "mini-Parliament" event which included musical offerings from such
varied groups as the Shumei Taiko Drummers from the Japanese Shinto faith
community, Sufi poets and singers, Christian singers and Zorastrian and Buddhist
chanteers.
Remarks from the Rev. Dirk Ficca, Executive Director of the CPWR office in
Chicago set forth the 21st Century Vision of CPWR. Appreciative inquiry led by
Steve Fitzgerald of the United Religion Initative (URI) based in San Francisco
created new relationships among the participants. A keynote panel included the
Rev. Dr. Gwynne Guibord, Ecumenical Officer of the Episcopal Diocese of Los
Angeles, as well as Dr. Hassan Hathout, Director of Outreach for the Islamic
Center of Southern California, Rabbi Steven Jacobs of Temple Kol Tikvah and
Prof. Pat Sekaquaptewa, Director of the Tribal Legal Development Clinic, UCLA.
Mandala art and peace postcard art projects were part of the offerings as well
as exhibits from groups such as ubilee USA Network, an interfaith advocacy
effort to cancel the debts of the world's poorest and most heavily indebted
nations.
The Council for the Parliament of the World's Religions (CPWR) has developed a
partner cities program which seeks to link interfaith communities in various
areas of the US.
It is hoped that a similar interfaith gathering can be organized in the San
Diego County area by existing ecumenical and interfaith groups prior to the
next global Parliament of World’s Religions
scheduled for December, 2009 in Melbourne, Australia.
Previous Parliaments have been held in Chicago, IL in 1993, Capetown, South
Africa in 1998 and Barcelona, Spain in 2004. Interfaith activities and
Intrafaith discussions are the focus of Parliament gatherings as well as
looking at issues such as governance from an interfaith perspective of a
multi-religious society, religion and the environment, Muslims and the West,
global ethics, minority religions in America, and transforming interfaith
engagement into social action.
The mission of CPWR is to cultivate harmony among the world's religious and
spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its other
guiding institutions in order to achieve a peaceful, just and sustainable
world. Dr. Bill Lesher, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is the
chairman of the Board of Trustees and Rev. Dirk Ficca, Presbyterian Church USA
is the Executive Director. Pastor Bill Harman, retired ELCA pastor is the
southern California representative for CPWR.
The next engagement of CPWR on the global scene is providing the Universal Forum
of Cultures, Monterrey Mexico September 25-29, 2007 with the central theme
"Peace and Spirituality" which will be an Interreligious World Meeting of the
Forum as part of the three-month Forum in Monterrey, Mexico from September 25 to
November 17, 2007.
Participants from the USA are welcome. If you have an interest visit the Forum
website.
The foregoing article was reprinted with permission from the current issue of
Ecumenews, the newsletter of the Ecumenical Council of San Diego County.
Retired Evangelical Lutheran Pastor Harmon is from Encinitas.
______________________
Manhigim students will discuss civil rights and modern dictatorships
SAN DIEGO—The seventh annual Manhigim
(Leaders) Institute for Jewish students in the tenth and eleventh
grades is nearing completion, the regional Anti-Defamation League has
announced.
Before it is over, however, students Alex Gipsman, Raphael Pransky, Jeremy
Rosen, and Zach Jurkowski will present their powerpoint on modern
dictatorships and civil rights at La Jolla High School on June 11.
As part of its
Manhigim program, the ADL assigned mentors to these students to help
guide their research. Additionally, the mentors worked with the students to
help them hone their leadership skills.
The Manhigim Institute is a
unique educational opportunity for students, combining education and social
action through a proactive approach to the issues that confront today's
youth.
Further information
about
this program may be obtained by
emailing Tina Malka, ADL associate
director.
Information for
the foregoing article was provided by the Anti-Defamation League.
|
May Their Memory
Be a Blessing... |
Dr. George W.
Weinstein (1935-2007)
ENCINITAS, Calif.—Dr. George W. Weinstein died on May 12 in Encinitas,
California. He was 72. The cause was prostate cancer and complications from
Pick’s Disease, a form of dementia.
Dr. Weinstein was born in 1935 in East Orange, New Jersey. He received a
bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1955 and his M.D. from
the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in 1959.
He was formerly the Jane McDermott Shott Professor and Chair of the Department
of Ophthalmology at the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia
University, Professor and Chair of the Division of Ophthalmology at the
University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, a former faculty
member of the Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins University, Regent of the
American College of Surgeons and Director of the American Board of
Ophthalmology.
He is survived by his wife, Sheila, a son, Bruce and daughter in law, Kristen,
two daughters, Elizabeth and Rachel, two grandchildren, Carlee and Sammy and a
sister and brother in law, Barbara and Daniel.
Donations may be made in his memory to: Neurosciences Center for Dementia
Research, Mayo Clinic Development Office, 4500 San Pablo Road, Jacksonville, FL
32224
Information for the foregoing article was
provided by the family.
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