ZEEK MAGAZINE October 24-26 Crossing Borders Weekend



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TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

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LETTER FROM JERUSALEM



Arab-Jewish coexistence at the gym

By Ira Sharkansky

JERUSALEM—The central picture on the New York Times web site is of a "Peace Symbol (that) Sits Along Jerusalem's Divide." o The article tells about a statue erected at one of the meeting points between Jewish and Arab neighborhoods, donated by a Polish billionaire, and goes on to report about the tensions, violence, and accommodations between Arabs and Jews.

I had to read the New York Times to learn what happened in my home town. Perhaps the monument went up when we were visiting family and friends in the United States. If it made an impression on the Israeli media, I missed it.

When we were overseas I did not miss a report about a Jerusalem Arab who drove a BMW into a group of soldiers who were on an educational tour of the city.

The new monument is called the Tolerance Monument. It did better than the Center for Human Dignity Museum of Tolerance, planned to be financed near the city center with a $150 million gift from the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It stalled before the basement could be excavated due to its location on a Muslim cemetery. The site lies hidden behind a construction fence erected more than two years ago, while the courts ponder claims from Muslim religious institutions that the planners are concerned with something other than tolerance.

One does not need Polish billionaires or donors to the Simon Wiesenthal Center in order to find accommodation between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem. I experience it twice a week when I go to the university gym. At my normal hours there are likely to be a half-dozen Arabs in the locker room. They include social workers, an accountant, and the owner of a shop on the main tourist street in the Old City. Some are Hebrew University graduates, including one of the best students in my workshop on policy analysis.

I cannot testify about the conversations in Arabic, but from the tones and body language they seem similar to the conversations in Hebrew. Mostly they resemble the banter I have heard in locker rooms over the course of several decades in different places. Humor is more prominent than philosophy or political preference. Multi-cultural themes include queries about one another's religious holidays, and whether or not someone has fasted on Yom Kippur or Ramadan.

A day after the riots in Acre the humor seemed forced, but that observation may reflect excessive sensitivity. I participated in one conversation that featured an Arab saying that the Arabs of Acre were known for their involvement in illegal drugs, and a Jew noting that the Jews of Acre were nothing to write home about.

One of my Arab students has made the point that the university remains a place of mutual accommodation. That is true in a limited sort of way. I never experienced a class discussion that got ugly, or even resulted in Arab students united against Jewish students. Occasionally an event will prompt Arab students and their left-wing Jewish allies to demonstrate at a busy location with signs and chants. This is likely to produce a count-demonstration by right-wing Jewish students, with university security personnel and the police between them, and police reinforcements located a few blocks away in case things get out of control.

Security has approached that at airports since a bomb exploded in a university cafeteria during the height of the intifada in 2002. That took the life of one of my students, and the eye of a young friend.

Some time later a critic asked why the university continued to employ Arabs among its security guards. "Why not?" was the official response.

When our children were in primary school, there were several cases of individual Arabs with large kitchen knives attacking Jews on the street. We did not want to be overprotective, or to produce children who were either racist or naive. We urged them to think of Arabs as likely to be decent, as we showed in our own conversation and behavior. However, we also told them to be careful. If they found themselves walking in front of an Arab, it would be wise to pause, and let the Arab get in front of them.

Our own neighborhood is integrated, with Arab students renting apartments, and a few Arab families buying apartments. Not everyone is happy, but I have not heard of any incidents.

It is not always obvious who is a Jew and who is an Arab. Complexion, clothes, language, and accent in Hebrew provide imperfect clues. Arabs killed an Arab who was jogging not far from my home. The organization that claimed responsibility granted the victim status as a martyr when it learned about the error. The Christian family of the victim, closely identified with the Palestinian national cause, declined the honor.
  
A Jewish friend noted that "half the people in this locker room are Arabs." I agreed, but noted that some of the Arabs were Jews. Among those likely to be chatting in Arabic are Jews from Baghdad, Cairo, or Morocco.

Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University. He may be contacted at msira@mscc.huji.ac.il

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TEMPLE SOLELNovember 8 Synaplex featuring Rabbi Daniel Gordis

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THE VIEW FROM JINSA

Not buying CITGO gasoline could send an economic message to Venezuela's Chavez

By Shoshana Bryen

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Reuters reported in August that Americans drove 12.2 billion miles fewer miles less in June 2008 than they did in June 2007; the eighth month in a row that driving declined and essentially erasing five years of growth in gasoline demand. Energy Department data in August showed total U.S. petroleum demand shrank by an average 800,000 barrels a day during the first half of this year, the biggest decline in 26 years. According to Reuters, from November 2007 to August 2008, motorists drove 53.2 billion fewer miles than they did over the same period a year earlier. Bravo.

But an informal survey in our area shows gas prices down from a high of $4.35 to a recent $3.19 and dropping, a major difference in each fill up. We now run the risk of returning to our wasteful ways.

It would be a mistake for economic, ecological and national security reasons - getting the last one right is a prerequisite for getting the others right. It is a quirk that put the oil under despotic regimes, but it requires that one of America's military priorities is to maintain the free flow of oil and the waterways through which it flows. Whatever the price per gallon, filling up provides Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and Saudi Arabia with the funds to export revolution and terrorism, or to bend the political will of others to their liking. And it increases the difficulty of protecting the sources and passages.   

Now we have an opportunity for push back and we should take it.

According to a recent Associated Press story, the Venezuelan state oil company produced 3.2 million b/p/d in 1998, the year before Hugo Chavez became president. Daily output is now 2.4 million barrels. "About half of this oil is now delivered at a discount to Mr. Chavez's friends around Latin America. The 18 nations in his 'Petrocaribe' club, founded in 2005, pay Venezuela only 30 per cent of the market price within 90 days, with the rest in installments spread over 25 years. The other half - 1.2 million barrels per day - goes to America, Venezuela's only genuinely paying customer."

The story concludes, "Now that prices are falling, Mr. Chavez faces huge financial problems. Nobody is sure at what point his government would be unable to pay its bills, but most sources consulted believe this would probably happen if oil falls to $80 a barrel. Yesterday (13 October), oil was trading at $79.80."

Let's help him find out. CITGO exclusively sells gasoline made from Venezuelan oil. Stop buying it. Not because Venezuela is worse than Saudi Arabia, but because only with CITGO do we know where all the gas comes from.  

Let's see if we can maintain our newly diminished driving habits and shift our purchases away from Venezuelan gas in the interest of sinking a pro-Iranian, anti-American dictator in our own hemisphere. Then, as hybrids and (in the future) electric cars - plus drilling, nuclear, solar and wind further reduce our dependence on black stuff from nasty countries, who knows where we can next exert our influence?

Bryen is special projects director for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). Her column is sponsored by Waxie Sanitary Supply in memory of Morris Wax, a long time JINSA member and national board member.





UNITED JEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN DIEGO January 29 Men's Event



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Yitzhak Rabin' Memorial sponsored by the UJF Israel Center

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)—A memorial for Israel's slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin will be conducted November 9, 2008, at 5 PM, at theLawrence Family JCC; 4126 Executive Drive La Jolla, CA 92037 

At the Peace Rally: "Peace is not just a prayer. Peace is first in all of our prayers-but it is also the aspiration of the Jewish people, a Jewish aspiration for peace."
-Yitzhak Rabin, The Man and the Vision

Special appearance by Leon H. Charney, "The Mystery of the Kaddish: Its Profound Influence on Judaism" In collaboration with the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture as part of the San Diego Jewish Book Fair. Book Signing Follows · Free Admission



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THE JEWISH CITIZEN


Letter to S.D. Council candidate Lightner

By Donald H. Harrison

Ms Sherri Lightner
Candidate for San Diego City Council
District One

Dear Ms. Lightner:

SAN DIEGO—Back on September 19, San Diego Jewish World ran an interview with Phil Thalheimer, a member of the Jewish community, about his background and involvement with the Jewish community, his public advocacy for retaining the large Christian cross atop Mount Soledad, and his positions on constructing the Hillel House adjacent to the UCSD campus and stringing an eruv around the La Jolla community that includes Congregation Adat Yeshurun and Congregation Beth El. Here is a link to that particular issue

In the following day’s issue, we ran two letters to the editor on the race, one from a supporter of your position against Hillel’s construction, Alice Goldfarb Marquis, and the other from a 1st District constituent, Gail Forman, expressing appreciation for the backgrounding on Thalheimer.  Marquis, a member of the Jewish community, said good land use policy, not bigotry, motivated neighbors’ opposition to the Hillel House.  She did not comment on the controversy over the eruv.

In the last several days, a month after that article appeared, we have received a number of written communications from your supporters, alluding to the article, and asking—even demanding—that you be given an opportunity to express your views on the issues addressed by candidate Thalheimer.   Given the timing of this new round of letter writing, we assume that you or your campaign in some way appealed for these supporters to write these letters. 

In the interim, our publication has endorsed Thalheimer, explaining that while we strongly disagreed with his advocacy for retaining the cross on public land (we favor moving it to private land), we supported him because of your opposition to the Hillel House and to the eruv.

Rather than filter your opinions, and be accused either of bending over backwards to appease your supporters or of being biased against you in any story that might eventuate from a personal interview, we offer you a public interview.  We shall be happy to print your personal answers to the following questions:

Issue One—Do you support or oppose retaining the large cross atop Mount Soledad.?  Please state your reasons.

Issue  Two—Your opposition to the Hillel House is well known.  Your opponent says he changed his position from opposition to support after a court ruling upheld the sale of the land to Hillel by the city.  Why do you continue to oppose Hillel?

Question Three—The stringing of an eruv in La Jolla met with an outcry of opposition from many of the same people who opposed Hillel, yourself included.  Please explain your opposition to the eruv.

Question Four—In taking positions against the eruv, some La Jolla residents have expressed fears that it would lead to the “ghettoization” of your neighborhood.  What is your opinion of this characterization?  Do you think that San Diego City Councilman Jim Madaffer was correct or incorrect when he stated at one City Council hearing that anti-Semitism seemed to motivate some of the opposition? 

Question Five -- Assuming you do detect some anti-Semitism among those who have opposed Jewish communal interests, have you publicly repudiated such attitudes among your supporters.  If so, when and how?  If not, why not, and will you do so now?

Question Six—Given your opposition to both the Hillel House and to the eruv, please say what else might recommend you to any voter concerned with the well-being of the Jewish community.

I shall look forward to reading your responses as will, I'm sure, members of the Jewish community who live within the 1st Council District.

Very sincerely,

Donald H. Harrison
Editor, San Diego Jewish World

Harrison may be contacted at editor@sandiegojewishworld.com or at sdheritage@cox.net

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JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE


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The 7th Annual Run for the Hungry Thanksgiving Day 5K and 10K

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)--The 7th Annual Run for the Hungry presented by Pure Fitness will be held at 8:00am on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 2008.

The scenic 5K (3.1-mile) and 10K (6.2-mile) run/walk starts and finishes in the heart of downtown and features live entertainment. A post-race party and awards ceremony follows.

“Running or walking through downtown San Diego with over 4,000 of your new best friends is the perfect way to start a Thanksgiving Day,” said Kathy Loper, race director. “It is a family-oriented event that’s perfect for all age groups and fitness levels.”

Four-legged family members are also encouraged to participate. Participants can register their canine companions for a $10 fee. Friendly, leashed dogs are invited to accompany their human and receive a special race bandana, enjoy water stations along the course and receive a treat at the finish line.

All participants are encouraged to bring one or more non-perishable canned goods which will be donated to the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry, a program of Jewish Family Service, for distribution to local families. A portion of the money raised from this event benefits Foodmobile, a program of Jewish Family Service. Celebrating 37 years of operation, Foodmobile delivers kosher meals to older adults and younger disabled adults. In 2007-08, Foodmobile delivered more than 28,000 meals to 280 people.  

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AMAZING STORIES OF JUDAISMDvar Torah: Hallel


The roomer teaches a valuable lesson

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman

SAN DIEGO—"Even maasu habonim haysa lirosh pina."   "The stone that the builders despised became the head cornerstone."   (Hallel Liturgy; Psalms 118)

Sometimes there is greatness right in front of us but we don't see it, as the following story related by Mary Bartels Bray illustrates:

Our house was across the street from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We rented rooms to outpatients at the clinic. One evening there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. "Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old," I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face -- lopsided
from swelling, red and raw. Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'til morning."

He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success, no one seemed to have a room. "I guess it's my face...I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments..."

For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: "I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning."

I told him we would find him a bed. I asked the old man if he would join us for supper. "No thank you. I have plenty." And he held up a brown paper bag.  It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his large family.

He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was prefaced with thanks to G-d for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, "Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment?" He paused a moment and then added, "Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind." I told him he was welcome to come again.

On his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish. He said he caught it that morning before he left so that it'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or vegetables from his garden.

I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made that first day. "Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!" Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to G-d.

Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse, As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. My friend explained. "I ran short of pots, and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden."

She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. "Here's an especially beautiful one," G-d might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. "He won't mind starting in this small body..."

Dedicated by Dr. Al Salganick in memory of Mrs. Celia Rosen.

Rabbi Lederman is spiritual leader of Congregation Kehillas Torah in San Diego. He may be contacted at rbl613@nethere.com





SAN DIEGO JEWISH ACADEMY

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LAWRENCE FAMILY JCC, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS


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Former Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer and Middle East expert Scott B. Lasensky to urge U.S. involvement in Arab-Israeli peace at San Diego Jewish Book Fair

LA JOLLA, California (Press Release)– Daniel C. Kurtzer, former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt and Israel, and Scott B. Lasensky, Middle East expert at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), will present their conclusions from lessons learned in past negotiations in their new book, Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East, at the 14th Annual San Diego Jewish Book Fair, sponsored by U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management and presented by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, JACOBS FAMILY CAMPUS.  Kurtzer and Lasensky’s presentation is scheduled for November 11 at 7:30 p.m., with a book signing to follow.  

In Negotiating Arab-Isaeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East, Kurtzer and Lasensky share ten core lessons, as well as policy recommendations, to guide the efforts of future American peace negotiators in the Middle East.  After nine months of groundbreaking consultations with statesmen, political leaders and civilians who have defined the Arab-Israeli peace process in recent years, Kurtzer and Lasensky reveal what works and what does not in this distinctive diplomatic arena.

The authors contend that there can be no endgame, two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict without the United States playing an active role in the negotiations.  They urge the next U.S. President to establish the Middle East peace process as a priority early in the administration and work to convince all parties that Washington is committed to resolving the conflict.

“Winning back the hearts and minds of both Arabs and Israelis must be a top priority, but it can only be the beginning.  If the United States does not make the effort on a sustained basis, we cannot expect others to fill the gap, and the situation will only deteriorate in the long term,” says Kurtzer.

Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace is the culmination of the work of the Study Group on Arab-Israeli Peacemaking, convened by USIP in 2006-2007.  The study group conducted confidential interviews in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East with 100-plus negotiators, political figures, and civil society leaders, virtually every key participant from all sides of the conflict.

BASEBALL

A bissel sports trivia with Bruce Lowitt

OLDSMAR, Florida--Q: Who is the only sports writer from a city without a major league baseball team to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

1. Si Burick
2. Shirley Povich
3. Ira Berkow
4. Bernard Malamud

This son of a rabbi was sports editor and featured columnist for the Dayton Daily News for 58 years. He also was inducted into the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame and was awarded the Red Smith Award, America’s most prestigious sports writing honor, by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

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