Israel sends medical supplies for Peru quake victims

JERUSALEM (Press Release)—The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the Peruvian health authorities, donated humanitarian aid to victims of the earthquake that struck Peru last week. The shipment contained antibiotics for children and adults, pain-killers, IVs, bandages, etc. – 1.5-2 tons of medicines and medical equipment.

The aid was flown by a Peruvian military plane to the city of Pisco (which was hard hit by the earthquake). Ambassador Walid Mansour accompanied the shipment and delivered it personally to the Peruvian authorities. An emergency command post was set up in the local army base to assist the victims of the earthquake. Ambassador Mansour took advantage of the visit to assess the progress of the aid work.

The preceding story was provided by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
 

ADL renews challenge to CAIR to denounce terror

•  Since the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada in 2000, CAIR has participated in and endorsed several rallies where support for terrorist organizations was undeniable.

The preceding story was provided by the Anti-Defamation League
 

Truth and Consequences: Armenians, Turks and Jews

{Editor's Note: David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, weighs the long-standing debate between the Turks and the Armenians over whether mass murders of Armenians in the early 20th century was a genocide like the later Holocaust against the Jews.  Our forum question is "What position should the Jewish community take regarding calls for recognition of the 'Armenian genocide' and why"  Please send your thoughts to sdheritage@cox.net}

By David A. Harris

NEW YORK —From 2000 to 2002, I led a graduate seminar entitled "Post-Holocaust Ethical and Political Issues” at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Among the topics covered was the politics of memory.

One of the case studies we explored was the controversy surrounding language and its power. We looked in depth at the massacre of Armenians and how its depiction had become a subject of fierce debate, primarily between Armenians, who insisted on calling the events of 1915 a genocide, and Turks, who adamantly refused to countenance the g-word. Essentially, this was a zero-sum game. Either one supported the Armenian or the Turkish position, whether for historical or political reasons, but neither side allowed room for compromise.

The basic Armenian argument was that up to 1.5 million Armenians were deliberately targeted and massacred by the Ottoman Empire, eight years before the modern Turkish Republic came into being. At the time, the word genocide didn’t exist. It was Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-born Jew, who coined the term. The Holocaust was the most immediate frame of reference for him, but he was also haunted by the slaughter of the Armenians – and by the need to prevent a repeat of any such occurrences – throughout his career. But had it been in use, it no doubt would have been invoked by Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. envoy to Turkey at the time and one of the primary sources on the tragedy cited by the Armenians.

No, replied the Turks. This was a time of war. The Armenians sided with Russia, the enemy. Many people, both Turks and Armenians, were killed, but that was the regrettable, if inevitable, consequence of conflict, and not a deliberate campaign to wipe the Armenians off the face of the earth, as the Nazis later sought to do to the Jews.

In recent years, of course, the survivors and eyewitnesses have disappeared. But each side has marshaled as much documentary evidence as it could to buttress its assertion. Yet neither side has been talking to the other. Instead, both have been appealing to the rest of the world, seeking supporters.

Not surprisingly, each has sought to draw the Jews to its ranks. The Jews’ moral voice, they reckoned, far exceeds actual numbers. The people of the Shoah are best positioned to tip the scales in one direction or the other.

The Armenian position has been straightforward. As victims of the Holocaust, who can better understand the Armenian ordeal and anguish than the Jews? Fearful of the danger of Holocaust denial, aren’t the Jews most aware of the slippery slope of distorting historical truth? And wasn’t it Adolf Hitler who reportedly asked, “Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?”— in effect, paving the way for the Final Solution?

Meanwhile, the Turkish stance has been that Jews shouldn’t simply accept the Armenian version of history lock, stock and barrel, as it’s fraught with distortion and deceit, but rather bear in mind the traditional Turkish welcome of minority communities, especially the embrace of dispersed Jews from Spain by the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 15^th century.

Moreover, Turkish leaders have also at times taken a tougher line, suggesting, in barely veiled language, that a Jewish acceptance of the Armenian version of history could have negative consequences for other Jewish interests, whether in Turkey or beyond.

And it is in this vise that many Jews have lived for years, essentially pitting principle against pragmatism. For armchair observers, that may look like an easy choice, but, in the world of policy, where actions can have real-life consequences, it’s anything but.

Look at successive governments of the United States, whether under Democratic or Republican leaders. All have reached the same conclusion: Turkey is of vital importance to U.S. geo-strategic interests, straddling as it does two continents, Europe and Asia, bordering key countries—from the former Soviet Union to Iran, Iraq and Syria—and serving as the southeastern flank of NATO. Each administration has essentially punted when asked about the Armenian question, seeking to discourage the United States Congress from recognizing the events of 1915 as genocide, while arguing that a third-party parliamentary body isn’t the right venue to settle a heated historical dispute.

And now I come back full circle to my Johns Hopkins classroom. I had four or five Turkish students in the course. All but one proudly defended Turkey’s historical record, stubbornly refusing to consider any competing narrative. But there was one young woman who, on reading the assigned material and much more, came to me and said that for the first time she doubted the official Turkish version of events. There were simply too many compelling accounts of the suffering of Armenians to swallow whole the Turkish line. She then went a step further and shared her thinking with our class. Regrettably, the other Turkish students distanced themselves from her, but the other students admired her for her courage. They instinctively understood that it wasn’t easy for her to express her sorrow and confusion, but that, under the circumstances, it seemed the right thing to do. I, too, admired her.

I have a strong connection to Turkey, a country I have visited on numerous occasions and to which I feel very close. Few countries have a more critically important role to play in the sphere of international relations. I remain grateful to this day for the refuge that the Ottoman Empire gave to Jews fleeing the Inquisition. I am intimately connected to the Turkish Jewish community and admire their patriotism and enormous contribution to their homeland. I deeply appreciate the link between Turkey and Israel, which serves the best interests of both democratic nations in a tough region. And I value Turkey’s role as an anchor of NATO and friend of the United States.

At the same time, I cannot escape the events of 1915 and the conclusions reached by credible voices, from Ambassador Morgenthau to Harvard professor Samantha Power, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Problem from Hell: American and the Age of Genocide, to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, about the nature of what took place: it was a genocide, they determined, albeit one that occurred more than thirty years before the term was coined.

From my experience in tackling difficult relationships, I believe that engagement, not avoidance, is the best strategy. In a perfect world, Armenian and Turkish historians would sit together and review the archival material, debate differences, and seek a common understanding of the past. To date, that hasn’t happened in any meaningful way. I continue to hope that it will. It should. We at AJC have offered our services, if needed, to help facilitate such an encounter. Ninety years of distance ought to allow for the creation of a “safe” space to consider contested issues.

Meanwhile, as the issue once again heats up in the United States, it’s important to be clear. In a book entitled Holocaust Denial, published by the American Jewish Committee in 1993, the author, Kenneth Stern, an AJC staff expert on the subject, noted: “That the Armenian genocide is now considered a topic for debate, or as something to be discounted as old history, does not bode well for those who would oppose Holocaust denial.”

He was right. Picture a day when a muscle-flexing Iran or Saudi Arabia seeks to make denial of the Holocaust a condition of doing business with other countries. Sound far-fetched? It shouldn’t.

We have many interests as a Jewish people. Protecting historical truth ought to be right up there near the top of the list.

The preceding commentary was provided by the American Jewish Committee

ADL revises its stand: it was a 'genocide'

NEW YORK— Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today issued the following statement:

In light of the heated controversy that has surrounded the Turkish-Armenian issue in recent weeks, and because of our concern for the unity of the Jewish community at a time of increased threats against the Jewish people, ADL has decided to revisit the tragedy that befell the Armenians.

Having said that, we continue to firmly believe that a Congressional resolution on such matters is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and may put at risk the Turkish Jewish community and the important multilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the United States.

  The preceding story was provided by the Anti-Defamation League

Features

The Jewish Grapevine

GREETINGS—Pastor Glen Larsen of Poway Community Church welcomes Rabbi Tamar Malino of Temple
Adat Shalom before her talk about Judaism earlier this month before the Poway Interfaith Council
 

AROUND THE TOWN—The executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, is coming to San Diego to deliver a lecture at 7 p.m., Thursday,  September 20, which is the night before Kol Nidre.  A reception will follow his lecture at the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice.  The center picked up from the Human Rights Watch website the background information that "roth was drawn to the human rights cause in part by his father's experience fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938."
Kenneth Roth
CONGREGATIONAL CURRENTS—Rabbi Tamar Malino of Temple Adat Shalom recently spoke at the Poway Community Church as part of an ongoing summer program of interfaith presentations by representatives of various religions in the community.  According to Lori Mathios, who handles publicity for the temple, "Our Rabbi gave a brilliant presentation and answered questions from guests and clergy with ease.  One guest, who remains anonymous, was so impressed, that he gave a very generous sum to open a non-profit bank account for future programs."
 
CYBER-REFERRALS— We thank contributors who pass along stories of interest for your benefit:

●Abe & Bea Goldberg noted that PM Caregivers has a bumper sticker promotion with jokes about becoming old.  One features a saying of George Burns: "It's nice to be here. At my age, it's nice to be anywhere.' Here's the link

●Israel's Consulate General in Los Angeles, without comment, directs attention to an article in the Jerusalem Post quoting the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade as saying Israel has arrested two fighters previously given amnesty, so the brigade no longer feels bound to honor agreements with Israel. Here's the link  

●Jay Jacobson directs our attention to a speculative piece about the fortifications and land purchases Hezbollah is making north of the Litani River, and what the strategic intent of these developments might be.  Here is the link.

●Hillel Mazansky saw the item on the BBC report about Alex Kurzem, a Jew who was brought up secretly by a Nazi officer.  Here's the link.

●We at the San Diego Jewish World greatly appreciated the first item in Diane Bell's column in the San Diego Union-Tribune about Yoni Peres going "to bat" for us.  Here is the link.

Click the ad above to go to the "I'm there for you baby" website

 

Greater San Diego County

Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble

Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble to help Adat Shalom usher in Selichot with Sept. 8 concert

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)— It has been traditional for many centuries for Jews to come together on a Saturday evening at least four days prior to Rosh Hashanah to begin the period of self-preparation for the great days to come.  These penitential prayers are called Selichot - prayers for forgiveness.  They are part of the effort to attune the human heart to the experience of the High Holy Days.  The observance of Selichot is a moving and inspirational prelude to the upcoming Days of Awe.

Temple Adat Shalom (TAS) will gather on Saturday, September 8,  at 7:30 p.m. to observe Selichot.   Prior to the service, and back by popular demand, the congregation looks forward to a heartwarming and joy-filled concert by San Diego’s own Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble.  The group is known for its unique blend of Jewish folk music of Eastern Europe with the songs of the Yiddish theatre.  The Ensemble consists of founding members, singer Deborah Davis and clarinetist Robert Zelickman who are joined by guitarist Jiri Svoboda, bassist Bertram Turetzky and drummer Jon Wishnuff.

For Deborah Davis, the love of this music stems from another source—the memory of her immigrant grandmother who introduced her to the music of her youth and the songs of New York’s Yiddish musical theatre.  This Yiddish musical theatre, which once thrived along Second Avenue, linked the immigrants to their old country and their New World.  It produced a musical tradition that has since melded with the folk music of Eastern Europe and, in the process, has redefined Klezmer itself.

The group’s repertoire encompasses traditional Klezmer music -- shers, bulgars, horas, freylakhs and waltzes.  It also includes Cantorial, Ladino and Israeli pieces, in addition to the songs of the Yiddish theatre and the folk songs of Eastern Europe.  The music of the Ensemble reflects their desire to draw on Klezmer’s past, perform it in the present and contribute to its future.

The Religious Practices Committee of Temple Adat Shalom will host a reception immediately following the program.  Dessert and coffee will be served at approximately 8:30 p.m. in the courtyard outside the Social Hall.

The Selichot service, led by Rabbi Tamar Malino and Cantor Lori Frank, will begin at 9:00 p.m. in the sanctuary.  Congregants and members of the community are encouraged to stay and attend this worship service.

The preceding story was provided by Temple Adat Shalom

 

          Please click on the above ad to visit the Humanistic Jewish Congregation's website

 

 Tikkun Olam projects win prizes for Amanda Haworth of La Jolla, Justin Sachs of Carlsbad

SAN FRANCISCO (Press Release)—Two San Diego area teens are among five outstanding California teens named winners of a new award for community service that comes with a cash prize of $36,000.  Amanda Haworth, 18, La Jolla, and Justin Sachs, 19, Carlsbad,  were named winners of the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam award. The award was created to recognize teens who have initiated an exceptional social action project that helps to repair the world (tikkun olam). The awards will be presented at a luncheon in San Francisco on August 28.

 

Haworth, 18, a student at La Jolla High School, raised $12,000 to pay for a field trip for 410 San Diego high school juniors to visit the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles after she heard anti-Semitic and simply ignorant remarks about Jews and the Holocaust.  The trip, which had been part of the school curriculum in the past, had been discontinued because of costs.  It is now a mandatory field trip in her high school.  The Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego nominated Haworth for the award. 

 

Sachs, 18, a student at La Costa Canyon High School, developed the Tikkun Project, a synagogue-based social action program for teens. The two-pronged goal of the monthly program for teens at Temple Solel in Cardiff-by-the-Sea is to inspire them to take an active role in their community and to develop leadership skills.  Among the group’s actions are sending care packages to troops in Iraq; a 1000 Sandwich-a-Thon and canned food drive to feed the homeless; participating in a Walk for Autism Research; and a three-day house building trip to Tijuana, Mexico. They have raised funds for each effort and sell bagels, orange juice and coffee regularly at synagogue functions to support varying causes.

 

The other 2007 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award winners are Allison Hoffman, 18, Los Altos; Erich Sorger, 17, Beverly Hills; and Shira Shane, 19, Encino.

 

The awards are funded by the Helen Diller Family Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties.

 

YADA (Youth Alliance for Darfur) - Allison Hoffman 

After initiating several social action programs at Castilleja School, her high school in Los Altos, Allison reached out to other Peninsula and San Francisco high schools to create a coalition of high school students working to end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan by raising awareness and fundraising to support humanitarian aid. 

TAG (Teens Against Genocide) - Shira Shane 

Shira organized 25 high schools (public and private) in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley to take action against human rights atrocities in general and particularly the genocide in Darfur. They organized a rally, among other things, and raised $10,000 to be used for the building of wells and medical clinics in Sudan.  

 

Dollars for Dwaynes – Erich Sorger 

Erich and several colleagues pick up furniture, appliances, clothes and other items left on the sidewalks in Westwood by students and destined to the city dump, and deliver them to National Council for Jewish Women’s thrift shop where they are sold.  As a result, he estimates $16,700 has been raised and donated by NCJW to groups that help the needy.

The preceding story was provided by Diller Teen Tikkun Olam  


 
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{Marc Kligman, who combines being a sports agent with his life as an observant Jew, invites you to listen. Click on the ad above for more information}.

Lifestyles

The Greene Line _________________________Norman Greene

 Spending a 38th anniversary in search of a blasted winery

KELOWNA, Canada—Some Jewish men buy their wives diamonds and take their Mrs. to London, Paris or Rome to celebrate a 38^th wedding anniversary.  Not me.  I took her to Kelowna and presented her with a  “Blasted Church.”  I would not be surprised if you were to ask: “You took her where and gave her what?” 

We were making our first foray in the Canadian Northwest in about 21 years.  After a wonderful four days in Banff where we hiked into Johnston Canyon to view seven different waterfalls, canoed on a lake and generally enjoyed ourselves taking in the dining spots, we had decided to drive through the Canadian Rockies to Kamloops, a half way spot on the road to Vancouver.

“There’s nothing in Kamloops,” Barrett our concierge volunteered. “You should take Canada 1 to Route 3 and then head south on 97A to Kelowna.”

“Where?” I asked. 

“It’s in the heart of Canada’s wine region,” he responded. 

“Canada has a wine region?” I managed in utter amazement.  Have you ever seen Canadian wine for sale in the U.S.?   I hadn’t. 

My wife and I immediately consulted one of the Canadian tour books she had purchased in San Diego.  To our amazement, it had a few pages on Kelowna with recommendations of places to stay in that city and in the Okanagan Valley.  I had never heard of either, nor of the monstrously large Lake Okanagan in British Columbia. 

Since we were traveling into the great unknown, we decided on a rather high-end hotel with an historic background.  The Eldorado Inn situated on the shore of Lake Okanagan sounded too good to be true.       

According to the guide book, the inn had been floated down the lake to its present site back in the early 1900's.  Once installed, it promptly burned to the ground, but was rebuilt using its original plans.  Located on the east side of the lake, the Eldorado features, among other things, a lovely restaurant overlooking the lake and its small marina.  We immediately booked a window table for that evening’s dinner, but since it was too early to dine, we set out on our quest to find the “Burnt Church” winery. 

Barrett, our trusty Banff concierge, had recommended that we sample “Burnt Church’s” vintages when in the Kelowna area.  We checked with the Inn’s bartender, he knew of the wine, but he didn’t know of the winery.  A passing waitress said she had heard of it, but wasn’t sure that it was local.  “Perhaps,” she suggested, “you should check with St. Hubris Winery.  They had a fire there two years ago and they may have a vintage with that name.”  So we were off to find the winery along the wine trail that winds along both sides of Lake Okanagan.

In less than a half hour, we were deep in discussion with the Zurich born proprietress of the saintly winery, which didn’t have a “Burnt Church” vintage, but she knew that the correct name for the Winery was actually “Blasted Church” Winery.  “You must try their “Blasphemy” dessert wine,” she advised as she tried to find the winery’s location along a published wine tour map.  

Evidently, the Blasted Church Winery was so small that they had not paid to advertise their name on the wine tour map.  We traveled on to the next winery which had a gift shop attached and rummaged through the wine tour books.  Sure enough, there was “Blasted Church” among its listings. 

It was not located in Kelowna, but rather an hour or so south of Okanagan Falls, 12 miles south of Penticton, both towns I had never heard of.  We decided to wait until the next day before attempting to hunt down Blasted Church.  It was now nearing dinnertime and our reservation for the Eldorado Inn’s lakeside gourmet dinning room.

We were seated on a large veranda next to open large glass doors with a view of the marina now filling with middle aged women who were climbing into two large dragon boats.  All the women in one boat had bright read t shirts and the other team was dressed in bright blue.  It looked far more active than my mother’s old mahjong group.  I doubt that the ladies were from any local synagogue or Hadassah.

And so we celebrated our 38^th anniversary sipping French champagne and dining on an exquisite dinner.  The night air was balmy, the service was impeccable and the price was close to Paris, but not quite.   Kelowna had proven to be quite a success even if it didn’t boast an Eiffel Tower, Coliseum or Big Ben.

On the road the next morning we arrived at Okanagan Falls, but found no signs leading to Blasted Church Winery.  We called and reached perhaps the only woman in Canada who doesn’t drive.  Her directions were less the precise:   “You travel a bit down a lovely tree lined road and look for our logo,” she advised.  We didn’t know what her logo looked like and the road had no name.  How long we should travel down the lovely road was a mystery as well.

“If you come to McFaden Market, “ she said on our second or third call, “then you have gone too far.”  We had and so we doubled back and by accident saw a very small sign that looked like a comic strip.  We made a right turn, climbed a steep hillside and came face to face with a vineyard.  High above the lake, we found a chalet with a large totally empty parking lot.  Finding Blasted Church had become a cause celeb for us, but obviously not for many others.

In the hour we spent sampling wines, laughing with the sales women, buying Blasted Church tee shirts, we were the only customers.  And yes, we found “Blasphemy,” my anniversary gift to my Mrs.   

 

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