Trepidation looms as Europe’s Jews watch rise of German far-right

The European Jewish Congress on Sunday expressed alarm at the far-right Alternative for Germany's success in Germany's parliamentary election and urged other parties not to form an alliance with the AfD. Early projections gave the AfD 13.5 percent of the vote, allowing it to enter the Bundestag for the first time, as Germany's third-biggest party.

AfD election campaign poster: 'Stop Islamisation. Vote AfD!' (Photo: Getty Images)

The far-right has not been represented there since the 1950s—a reflection of Germany's efforts to distance itself from the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. "We trust that centrist parties in the Bundestag will ensure that the AfD has no representation in the coming governing coalition," the EJC said.

"Some of the positions it has espoused during the election campaign display alarming levels of intolerance not seen in Germany for many decades and which are, of course, of great concerns to German and European Jews."

Last year, a regional lawmaker for the anti-immigrant AfD quit the party after a row over his allegedly anti-Semitic views had threatened to cause a damaging split in the party.

Wolfgang Gedeon, a former doctor turned AfD lawmaker, triggered outrage by saying that denial of the Nazi Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered, was a legitimate expression of opinion, describing Holocaust deniers in the past as "dissidents."

Wolfgang Gedeon (Photo: EPA)

He also drew criticism for saying that "Talmud Judaism is the inner enemy of the Christian West." Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany.

Leading up to the elections, Salomea Genin, an 85-year-old Jewish Berliner who fled the Nazis as a child, said she would flee Germany a second time if the AfD ever took power.

Alice Weidel (L) and Alexander Gauland (R) from the AfD (Photo: EPA)

Genin, who holds dual German and Australian nationality, was shocked by comments this month by a top AfD candidate in Sunday’s federal election, Alexander Gauland, that Germans should take pride in what their soldiers achieved in two world wars.

“I was speechless,” said Genin, who lost 29 family members during the Holocaust, in which the Nazis killed six million Jews. “I never thought that I would again face a movement in Germany with the sort of ideas that are coming out of the AfD.”

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Ancient prayer book donated to National Library

An ancient festival prayer book, originally penned in Catalonia, finally found its way to Israel after an incredible journey across two World Wars and most of the European continent.

  The prayer book was written and illustrated by hand in the Spanish autonomous community in the mid-13th century, two centuries before Jews were expelled from the Christian kingdom.

The unique prayer book was written in Catalonia in the 13th century (Photo: National Library of Israel)

Upon the expulsion, Jews took the book with them and it somehow found its way to Italy, the region that today is Israel and then Thessaloniki, which was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time. Finally, it was taken to Germany. When World War II broke out, the manuscript went missing and reappeared again four decades later, when it was put up for sale in 1984. Thanks to the involvement and generosity of Ludwig and Erica Jesselson, the book was purchased and then donated to the National Library of Israel.

The book contains one-of-a-kind micrographic art (Photo: National Library of Israel)

Beyond the manuscript's singular story, its contents shine an extraordinary light on the cultural wealth of Spain's Jewish communities before the expulsion. The festival book was intended for use by cantors during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The book is a masterwork of Jewish creation: liturgical poems written by some of the Jewish people's greatest poets, including Rabbi Judah Halevi and Abraham ibn Ezra, and is the only prayer book adorned with micrography, a distinctly Jewish artform of creating geometric designs using microscopic lettering. "This artform appears almost exclusively in bibles, and therefore seeing it in a prayer book is unique," explained Dr. Dalia-Ruth Halperin, a micrography researcher. "There's nothing else like it," she stated.

(Photo: National Library of Israel)

The manuscript was written in parchment and includes 154 pages. It's adorned with micrographic illustrations and golden letterboxes set against scarlet and blue tiles.

"This book has at least three things completely unique to it," said Dr. Aviad Stollman, head of the National Library's Collections Division. "The poems written during the Golden Age by the very best writers, its external beauty with unique micrography and, beyond all of those, the story of the Jewish people in the last few centuries," he elaborated. "When I think of the author in Catalonia writing and illustrating the manuscript, what would he have thought if he were told about everything the book was going to go through? What would he have thought if he were told that in just a few centuries' time, Jews would no longer be in Spain but reside in Jerusalem, and that his manuscript would be taken on a tour of the entire world?" Stollman wondered.

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US Supreme Court justice surprise speaker at Rosh Hashanah service

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a surprise guest speaker Wednesday evening during services for the Jewish new year in Washington, telling worshipers she believes being Jewish helped her empathize with other minority groups.

Ginsburg spoke mostly about her Jewish faith, acknowledging that the Jewish justices who have served on the court have shared some similar views, which she linked to their Jewish heritage. "If you are a member of a minority group, particularly a minority group that has been picked on, you have empathy for others who are similarly situated," she said during about 20 minutes of answering questions from attorney Kenneth Feinberg.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks at Georgetown University (Photo: AFP)

 Ginsburg spoke at services for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, which began Wednesday evening and which Jews continue observing Thursday. The service she attended was organized by Sixth & I, a historic synagogue that hosts a range of Jewish and cultural events. Worshipers were not told ahead of time that she'd be appearing. Ginsburg is one of three Jewish justices on the nine-member Supreme Court. Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan are also Jewish, and Breyer spoke at services organized by Sixth & I last year. The 84-year-old Ginsburg, who has served on the court since 1993, noted that she is now the longest-serving Jewish justice. She also spoke about Jewish values that have guided her. "The Jewish religion is an ethical religion. That is, we are taught to do right, to love mercy, do justice, not because there's gonna be any reward in heaven or punishment in hell. We live righteously because that's how people should live and not anticipating any award in the hereafter," Ginsburg told the audience.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks at Georgetown University (Photo: AFP)

 Ginsburg also talked about what she called the "Great Yom Kippur controversy," when in 1995 the court had been scheduled to hear arguments on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Ginsburg said what finally persuaded Chief Justice William Rehnquist not to hold arguments was when Ginsburg and Breyer, then the only two Jewish justices on the court, told Rehnquist that some lawyers who had been practicing for their arguments for weeks would be asked to choose between their religion and arguing. "That sold him," Ginsburg said. Since then, the court has not heard arguments on Jewish holy days, she said. Last year, when the first day of the Supreme Court's term fell on the Jewish new year, the three Jewish justices were absent and the court's short session consisted largely of admitting new attorneys to the Supreme Court bar. The Supreme Court will open its next term October 2. The justices are scheduled to tackle cases involving US President Donald Trump's travel ban, a clash between gay rights and religion, partisan advantage in redistricting, the privacy of certain cellphone records and sports betting. "There's only one prediction that's entirely safe about the upcoming term, and that is: it will be momentous," Ginsburg said earlier Wednesday at Georgetown University's law school. The Georgetown audience included Trump's daughter Tiffany Trump, a Georgetown law student.

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Anti-immigrant AfD alarms German Jews as election looms

Salomea Genin, an 85-year-old Jewish Berliner who fled the Nazis as a child, says she would flee Germany a second time if the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ever took power.

 

Genin, who holds dual German and Australian nationality, was shocked by comments this month by a top AfD candidate in Sunday’s federal election, Alexander Gauland, that Germans should take pride in what their soldiers achieved in two world wars. “I was speechless,” said Genin, who lost 29 family members during the Holocaust, in which the Nazis killed six million Jews. “I never thought that I would again face a movement in Germany with the sort of ideas that are coming out of the AfD.”

AfD election campaign poster: 'Stop Islamisation. Vote AfD!' (Photo: Getty Images)

It is unlikely that Genin, who returned to then-East Germany in 1951 after growing up in Australia, will have to pack her suitcases again any time soon. Although opinion polls suggest the anti-immigrant AfD could become the third biggest party in the lower house Bundestag after the election, other parties have vowed to shun it in negotiations to form a new coalition government. The AfD, which would be the first postwar far-right party to enter parliament, denies being racist. Germany, home today to an estimated 200,000 Jews, has built a reputation in recent decades as a tolerant, safe place for Jews to live, but official data show anti-Semitic crimes reported to the police rising 4 percent to 681 in the first eight months of 2017 against the same period last year. The real number is probably much higher. Nearly 93 percent of reported anti-Semitic crimes were linked to far-right extremism, despite predictions that a large growth in the Muslim population since Europe’s 2015 migrant crisis could fuel attacks or discrimination against Jews. “Police statistics and new private reporting sites report a growing number of anti-Semitic crimes. In addition, we have the impression that anti-Semitic sentiments are being expressed without reservation on social media,” said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

Schuster’s group has urged political parties and non-governmental organizations to work together to combat right-wing extremism. It has also backed calls for the German government to appoint a special commissioner for anti-Semitism.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet on Wednesday adopted a broader definition of anti-Semitism backed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and promised a “resolute and consistent battle against every form of anti-Semitism”. But it did not announce a special commissioner or adopt four other recommendations made by an independent council of experts. Volker Beck, a member of the pro-environment Greens party, accused the government of complacency. “We can’t work magic, but doing nothing is just negligent. When the word ‘Jew’ is used as a schoolyard taunt, something has to happen. We should be alarmed,” Beck told Reuters.

Alice Weidel (L) and Alexander Gauland (R), AfD co-top candidates for the German general elections (Photo: EPA)

German schools have long taught about the Holocaust, but rights groups say the rise of the AfD and other far-right parties has lowered the barrier for anti-Semitic comments and other hate speech. Miriam Marhoefer, a 37-year-old Jewish social worker from Mannheim, drew a parallel with France, which some Jews now regard as unsafe following increased attacks on them there. “My biggest fear is that (Germany) will become like France, where Jews are once again emigrating,” said Marhoefer. Marhoefer is taking part in a two-year-long course run by a branch of a century-old Jewish welfare league that helps people to combat anti-Semitism in their communities. Such programs are particularly important for people outside cities with large Jewish communities, said Anna Sodki, 45, a Jewish economist from Bergisch-Gladbach, near Cologne. “For a long time, we felt safe,” she said. “But now, I don’t wear my Star of David out anymore. You never know who you’re going to be sitting next to on the train.” The Central Council is also training about 40 Jewish youths aged 15 to 20 to visit German classrooms to challenge stereotypes and combat ignorance. Dimitri Bilyarchyk, a 20-year-old student who took the training, said the word “Jew” was often used as a slur and that young people in his native Bavaria often referred to their last sip of beer as the ‘Judenschluck’ or ‘Jewish sip’. “It’s only words. But many things start with words, and I think language is really important in this context,” he said. “The official AfD programme says ‘we stand with the Jews’. To which I say, and I think I speak for all Jews in Germany, please stand somewhere else,” Bilyarchyk added. “When you incite hatred against one group of people ... be they Jews or Muslims or gay people, it’s not long before they switch from Muslims to us.”

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Far-right party likened to Nazis to shake up German parliament

The Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has also called for Germany's immigration minister to be "disposed of" in Turkey where her parents come from, could become the third largest party with up to 12 percent of the vote on Sept. 24, polls show.

The first far-right party set to enter Germany's parliament for more than a half a century says it will press for Chancellor Angela Merkel to be "severely punished" for opening the door to refugees and migrants.

Alternative for Germany anti-immigrant protests (Photo: EPA)

 The projected result is far less than similar movements in other European countries: in France far-right leader Marine Le Pen won 34 percent of the vote in May and in the Netherlands far-rightist Geert Wilders scored 13 percent in a March election. But the prospect of a party that the foreign minister has compared with the Nazis entering the heart of German democracy is unnerving the other parties. They all refuse to work with the AfD and no one wants to sit next to them in parliament.

Leading AfD candidate Alexander Gauland denies they are Nazis, saying others only use the term because of the party's popularity. It has won support with calls for Germany to shut its borders immediately, introduce a minimum quota for deportations and stop refugees bringing their families here.

AfD leader Alexander Gauland (Photo: AP)

 

"We're gradually becoming foreigners in our own country," Gauland told an election rally in the Polish border city of Frankfurt an der Oder.

A song with the lyrics "We'll bring happiness back to your homeland" blared out of a blue campaign bus and the 76-year-old lawyer said Germany belonged to the Germans, Islam had no place here and the migrant influx would make everyone worse off. Gauland provoked outrage for saying at another event that Germans should no longer be reproached with the Nazi past and they should take pride in what their soldiers achieved during World War I and II.

The AfD could end up as the biggest opposition force in the national assembly if there is a re-run of the current coalition of Merkel's conservatives and Social Democrats (SPD)—one of the most likely scenarios.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel out on the campaign trail (Photo: Reuters)

Should this come to pass, AfD would chair the powerful budget committee and open the general debate during budget consultations, giving prominence to its alternatives to government policies. Georg Pazderski, a member of the AfD's executive board, said his party would use parliamentary speeches to draw attention to the cost of the migrant crisis, troubles in the euro zone—which the AfD wants Germany to leave—and problems related to the European Union. "We'll have a voice when we're in parliament," he said. "We won't be an easy opposition." He expects other parties will shun the AfD for a year or two but ultimately work with it, pointing to the regional assembly in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD and Merkel's Christian Democrats voted to set up a committee to investigate left-wing extremism. Gauland added the AfD would call for a committee to investigate the chancellor after entering parliament: "We want Ms. Merkel's policy of bringing 1 million people into this country to be investigated and we want her to be severely punished for that."

MPs have already changed the qualification for the ceremonial post of doyen of parliament to the longest-serving MP rather than the oldest, likely to have been an AfD member.

Sahra Wagenknecht, top candidate of the radical Left party, said it was important to look at individuals for committees but added: "I won't elect any AfD member who belongs to Bjoern Hoecke's wing and who really represents Nazi views into any position of responsibility."

(Photo: AFP)

Hoecke has denied that Adolf Hitler was "absolutely evil", described Berlin's Holocaust Memorial as a "monument of shame" and demanded a "180-degree turnaround" in the way Germany seeks to atone for Nazi crimes. The justice minister said some of the AfD's programs, like its demand to ban minarets, is unconstitutional. Alexander Hensel, who studied the AfD's role in regional parliaments for the Otto Brenner Foundation, said debates in state assemblies had become more polarized since the AfD arrived and some other MPs would not shake hands with the newcomers.

"The AfD's aggressive right-wing positions have intensified the debates while the tone and way people deal with each other in parliament has become noticeably rougher due to the AfD's tough rhetoric and targeted provocations," he said.

An AfD demonstration (Photo: Getty Images)

Unlike previous right-wing movements in Germany, the AfD—founded in 2013 by an anti-euro group of academics—has become socially acceptable to the point radicalized people from the middle class feel able to vote for it alongside classic radical right-wing voters, said Manfred Guellner, head of the Forsa polling institute. "You don't vote for skinheads but you can vote for professors in suits," said Guellner, referring to the likes of Gauland, who tends to wear tweed jackets. The AfD is unlikely to gain much more support though, said Jackson Janes, president of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, predicting worsening infighting over whether to aim for government or stay in opposition. "They'll add to the yelling and screaming in the Bundestag," he said, but added: "I don't see them spreading like a cancer through society."

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Survey finds Israeli Jews seek separation of religion from state

Israelis have lost hope in the possibility of a Jewish and democratic coexistence, according to the Religion & State Index released on Monday. Support for a separation of church and state is on a constant rise, jumping from 56 percent in 2012 to 68% in 2017.

The index, conducted by the Smith Polling Institute for Hiddush - Freedom of Religion for Israel, points to a consistent change in trends over the past few years.

Haredi members of Knesset (File photo: Ido Erez)

In the past, the index pointed to Israelis' complex relationship with religion—identifying with Orthodox Judaism, while at the same time decisively opposing religious coercion. The new data indicate the public doesn't merely seek more freedom in the form of separating religion from government, but also less religion in general.

Israelis want separation of religion from state (Photo: EPA)

For example, over the past two years, there has been a decrease in respondents who said they'd choose an Orthodox wedding for themselves and their children—from 68% in 2015 to only 50% in 2017. On the other hand, the number of respondents who support civil marriages rose from 19% to 30%. Conversely, 86% said the state should ensure freedom of religion and conscience for all of its citizens, while 65% called to grant Reform and Conservative Jews equal status and recognition to that of Orthodox Jews (67% supported non-Orthodox marriage; 52% supported non-Orthodox kashrut supervision; and 49% supported non-Orthodox conversion). Fifty-eight percent said they noticed an increase in religious elements in the secular education system and defined it as "religionization" (46% supported that trend). While at the same time, 78% said they were in favor of including Jewish heritage studies in state schools, but only if students are taught about the different approaches to this heritage—secular, Orthodox and non-Orthodox.

While seeking more religious freedoms for themselves, a great majority of Israelis (82%) believe ultra-Orthodox education institutions must be required to teach core curriculum subjects, while 84% of them called to deny state budgets (entirely or partially) from schools or yeshivot who refuse to teach subjects such as math, English and science.

File photo: Alex Kolomoisky

Regarding representation in the Knesset, 79% said the law should be amended to ensure the inclusion of women in every party, including Haredi factions.

Respondents were asked for their opinion on draft exemptions given to the ultra-Orthodox, with 36% calling to conscript all yeshiva students into full IDF service, while 33% said they should at the very least be required to complete national service. Seventeen percent accept the existing situation, in which ultra-Orthodox men and women can receive an exemption for religious reasons, while 14% were in favor of setting a cap on "prodigy" yeshiva students who will receive an exemption from service, while conscripting the others.

Haredim protest IDF draft (Photo: EPA)

Debating the issue of public transportation on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, 45% were in support of limited service, 28% said buses and trains should run on the weekend as they do on weekdays, 19% said they were happy with the status quo and 8% said they wanted to cancel the existing Saturday public transportation.

In their private lives, 48% of respondents said they observe the Shabbat, with 27% observing it according to the Halacha (Jewish law) and 21% partially adhere to the Halacha by reciting the kiddush prayer and lighting Shabbat candles. Meanwhile, 29% said they consider Shabbat "a special day of rest," while 23% see it as a "regular day off" or a "day like all days."

In the wake of the crisis between the Israeli government and American Jews over the conversion bill and the freeze of the Western Wall egalitarian area plan, the survey examined the public's views on the involvement of Diaspora Jewry in Israel's internal affairs and of the promotion of their agenda on matters of religion and state. Fifty-five percent said they supported Diaspora Jewry's involvement, while 45% were against it.

The Religion & State Index, conducted by Rafi Smith and Olga Paniel from the Smith Institute, polled 800 respondents, both men and women, who make up a representative sample of the adult Jewish population in Israel (the margin of error is 3.5%).

"The index's findings clearly present the serious gap between the public's views and the positions and comments made by the government on issues of religion and state," said Uri Regev, the director of Hiddush.

"The public's criticism and frustration is increasing," Regev continued. "The public is looking for constitutional protection and governmental protection in the form of a secular state education council and cooperation with Diaspora Jews to promote the freedom of religion and equality."

"The index reveals that the government's policies are not merely in complete contradiction with the public's wishes—including those of the coalition's voters—but constitute an increasing threat to democracy, undermine the rule of law and erode Israel's relations with the Diaspora," he added.

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Yonatan Razel releases track of Jewish biblical poem

Yonatan Razel, who has composed some of the most famous Jewish songs of recent years, recently released the melody of "Adon Haselichot"—perhaps the most popular piyut (Jewish liturgical poem) in Israel, at least for the High Holidays.

The song is peformed under Razel's direction with performances from the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra, Rabbi Haim Locke—one of the leading prayer poets in Israel, the Voices from Heaven gospel choir and conducted by Sivan Albo Ben Hur.

The song—seen here for the very first time—will be performed in a special concert held for the coming High Holy Days, alongside other classic Jewish liturgical poems, such as "Avinu Malkeinu", "El Nora Alila", "Anenu", "Shema Koli" and more.

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Exhibit allows virtual 'interviews' with Holocaust survivors

What was it like in a Nazi concentration camp? How did you survive? How has it affected your life since? Technology is allowing people to ask these questions and many more in virtual interviews with actual Holocaust survivors, preparing for a day when the estimated 100,000 Jews remaining from camps, ghettos or hiding under Nazi occupation are no longer alive to give the accounts themselves. An exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City called "New Dimensions in Testimony" uses hours of recorded high-definition video and language-recognition technology to create just that kind of "interview" with Eva Schloss, Anne Frank's stepsister, and fellow survivor Pinchas Gutter. "What we've found is that it personalizes that history," says concept designer Heather Smith. "You connect with that history in a different way than you would just seeing a movie or reading a textbook or hearing a lecture."

Anne Frank (Photo: AP)

The project is a collaboration between the Steven Spielberg-founded Shoah Foundation, which has recorded nearly 52,000 interviews with Nazi-era survivors, and the Institute for Creative Technologies, both at the University of Southern California. First conceived in 2009, such exhibits have been put on in different forms at other museums, using technology to pull up relevant responses to questions about life before, during and after Adolf Hitler's murderous Third Reich.

Like Anne Frank, Schloss and her family went into hiding in Amsterdam but were betrayed and sent to Auschwitz. She was eventually liberated by the Russian Army in 1945. The 88-year-old Schloss, whose mother married Frank's father, Otto Frank, in 1953, lives in London and has told her story in talks to schoolchildren and in books including "Eva's Story: A Survivor's Tale by the Stepsister of Anne Frank." Asked about Frank, whom she knew as a child before both went into hiding, Schloss' image says, "Anne was really a very sophisticated little girl." Both Schloss and Gutter sit in red chairs and speak from large flat-screen monitors. The on-screen Gutter, who in reality is 85 and lives in Toronto, was asked "What do you do for a living?" during a museum visit last week. He answered, "At the moment I am retired. I do a lot of community social work. I'm a cantor in my synagogue. I visit people in hospitals. .... basically I do community social work as a volunteer." Asked about surviving a Nazi death march, he said, "We marched for two and a half weeks. And only half of us arrived at Theresienstadt. The rest were either killed or died on the road."

Auschwitz (File photo: Bild)

Gutter will also sing a Jewish liturgical song or tell a Yiddish joke if prompted. Smith says that, for now, the virtual Gutter is better at answering questions than the virtual Schloss because his database contains 20,000 questions to her 9,000. But she says the virtual Schloss will likely improve when asked more questions. Smith said the material could eventually be presented in a variety of formats including holographic technologies still in development. "The vision was to ultimately have a classroom of kids or one child or one adult actually in a room and sitting across from a Holocaust survivor and I wanted them to feel as if it was as real as possible," she said.

Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors (Photo: Shahar Azran)

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, chief curator of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, said she visited the Gutter-Schloss exhibit and she hopes that future technological advances don't overshadow the survivors themselves. "However innovative the technology is, it is not at the foreground of the experience, and it shouldn't be," Kirshenblatt-Gimblett said. "What's beautiful about this installation is that the survivors are front and center, they are charismatic and what they have to say is utterly compelling."

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Facebook founder shares photos of family Shabbat evening

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Mark Zuckerberg posts photos of 'kiddush cup that has been in our family for almost 100 years' as well as Shabbat candles and hallah bread, receiving almost 200,000 likes and over 4,000 shares. Facebook founder shares photos of family Shabbat evening : http://ift.tt/2xHiOxq

Drunk man attacks Jewish women in NYC, mistaking them for Muslims

A drunk man attacked an ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman and her adult daughter at a subway station in Queens earlier this week, thinking they were Muslim, according to the New York Daily News.

  The suspect, 40-year-old Dimitrious Zias, accosted the two Jewish women on Wednesday at around 2pm, yelling at them: "Get out of my country, you dirty Muslim!"

While the mother, 57, and daughter, 37, were making their way out of the Rego Park station, Zias came up behind them and allegedly called the mother, who tried to wave him along, a "dirty Muslim."

New York subway station (File photo: AFP)

When the daughter tried to come to her mother's defense, Zias allegedly punched the mother and struck the daughter. The daughter told the New York Daily News the suspect likely mistook them for Muslims because her mother wears a headscarf. "I never expected it would happen in this neighborhood," the daughter said. Police arrested the suspect at the scene and charged him with assault as a hate crime. According to the New York Daily News, there has been a rise of 33 percent in hate crimes in the city, with 280 incidents compared to 211 the previous year.

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Facebook removes feature that let ads reach 'Jew haters'

UK PM May hosts Rosh Hashanah dinner

British Prime Minister Theresa May hosted the leaders of the UK's Jewish community on Wednesday for a festive dinner in honor of the Jewish New Year, taking the opportunity to express her support for Israel and the UK's Jewish community and her efforts to aid with the security of both.

"We look forward to (marking) the centenary of the Balfour Declaration in November," she opened. "Born of that letter, the pen of Balfour, and of the efforts of so many people, is a remarkable country. "Of course, there are great challenges in the region, and we will do everything we can to support efforts towards building a two-state solution and the lasting peace that we all want to see."

PM Theresa May, at the dinner (Photo: UK gov.)

May segued to her support of the Jewish state, saying "as Prime Minister, I am proud to say that I support Israel. And it is absolutely right that we should mark the vital role that Britain played a century ago in helping to create a homeland for the Jewish people." Moving to more pressing issues, tackling concerns regarding the rise of anti-Semitism in the UK, May spoke about her efforts to ensure the safety of her Jewish citizens. "I want you to know that I will always do whatever it takes to keep our Jewish community safe," she said. "Through our new definition of anti-Semitism we will call out anyone guilty of any language or behavior that displays hatred towards Jews because they are Jews. "We will actively encourage the use of this definition by the police, the legal profession, universities and other public bodies. But the ultimate way of defeating anti-Semitism is to create an environment that prevents it happening in the first place." May then noted that this is one of the reasons that she plans to "erect a monument to the memory of the Holocaust," set to stand next to the parliament building, and its design will be determined in accordance with a decision by a panel of judges to be held this weekend. "It will be a constant reminder of what may happen when a civilized society allows its members to attack others without consequence," she said. Finally, she added that the monument will be accompanied by an "educational center that will teach future generations to fight hatred and prejudices of all kinds." The dinner at the British Prime Minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street was attended by senior members of the Jewish community, including the Chief Rabbi of Britain, Ephraim Mirvis.

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Swedish police approves neo-Nazi rally on Yom Kippur

Sweden's Jewish community has expressed outrage by local police allowing the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), a neo-Nazi organization, to hold a rally near the Gothenburg synagogue during Yom Kippur.

 

"This is an outrage," said Aron Verstandig, president of Sweden's Jewish community. "This is the only day of the year when many Jews—even those who are usually non-observant—come to the synagogue to pray. On this day, of all days, police have decided to permit this neo-Nazi organization to march in the streets of Gothenburg, a mere stone's throw away from the synagogue."

The neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement plans a Yom Kippur rally

The Swedish Jewish community declared a public struggle against the police's decision, emphasizing besides the fear for their safety and security, the march also raises highly unpleasant connotations for Jews, as during the Holocaust, Nazis often committed their worst atrocities during important days on the Hebrew calendar. The Jewish community called upon the police to rescind the permit or move the rally to the city's outskirts, far away from the main thoroughfares where the synagogue is located. Several organizations intend to protest the decision. At the beginning of the year, the anti-racism Expo Foundation claimed the NRM movement was the driving force behind Neo-Nazism in Sweden in 2016 and was responsible for crime and violence in that context.

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Molotov cocktails thrown at Jewish community center

In a suspected case of an anti-Semitic hate crime, unknown individuals were caught on camera throwing Molotov cocktails at a building owned by the Jewish Community Federation in the Russian capital of Russia. There were no reported injuries, but the building's façade has been damaged.

Security footage from the scene of the crime shows one of the perpetrators nearing the building, lighting the petrol soaked bottle on fire and then throwing it.

A still from the security video

Jewish Federation's Foreign Relations Manager Boris Gorin later told Russian news agency RIA that the remains of two Molotov cocktails were found in the building.

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Exotic animal-hide kippot impounded from J'lem boutique

Inspectors from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) have confiscated luxury snake and crocodile-skin kippot from a high-end Old City boutique in Jerusalem on the suspicion they were imported illegally and without the requisite permits.

 

Israeli law, prescribed by international treaties, forbids importing and trading items made of wild animals without their origins first being tested and approved by the INPA.

Alligator and snake-skin kippot were confiscated from the store (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

A new Judaica store in the Old City's Jewish Quarter began selling these items for thousands of shekels, and prepared to import more kippot made from the hides of exotic animals.

The inspector who arrived at the store discovered that the items in question, including both kippot and mezuzahs, were imported to Israel without a permit.

According to the inspector, the importer could have been granted the required permit upon request, but his failure to comply with the regulations led to the confiscation of all the items.

  There are numerous animal habitats in the world dedicated to harvesting the animals' hides or other body parts. These habitats are intended to serve as a substitute for hunting the animals in the wild, and only in cases where the local government has approved the animal products are legitimately sourced can they be imported to Israel. "Our products are designs sent to us by an American firm. When we start regulated importing, it will naturally be coordinated with the proper authorities," said Eli Mordechai, the owner of the store.

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Jewish family assaulted in anti-Semitic robbery in France

A Jewish family was beaten, held hostage and robbed in their home near Paris because of their religion, French authorities and anti-hate groups said Sunday.

The three attackers burst into the house in the Paris suburb of Livry-Gargan late Thursday, cut the electricity and confined members of the family until one managed to escape and alert police, said anti-Semitism watchdog BNVCA.

It said the assailants told the three victims: "You are Jews, you have money. We take money from Jews to give to the poor."

Photo: Reuters

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb promised a major effort to arrest those responsible "for this cowardly act (which) appears directly linked to the victims' religion". The BNVCA condemned the attack—in which the assailants made off with jewelry, cash and credit cards—as a "fresh assault that is clearly anti-Semitic". It said the family members were threatened with death, insulted and "violently beaten". Francis Kalifat, president of the CRIF umbrella grouping of French Jewish organizations, said "this horrible act is proof that Jews in France are particularly threatened in the street... and even in their homes." French Jews, the largest community outside of the United States and Israel, have been leaving France at a steady pace since around 2005. Some 5,000 departures in 2016 add to the record 7,900 who left in 2015 and 7,231 in 2014. In total, 40,000 French Jews have emigrated since 2006. The community was shocked in 2006 by the kidnapping and brutal anti-Semitic killing of a young Jewish man, Ilan Halimi, in the Paris suburbs, which was followed by a shooting in a Jewish school in the southwest city of Toulouse in 2012. Experts and members of the Jewish community in France say that the terror attacks in recent years—including one at a Kosher supermarket—are not the only reason people are leaving. Family, religious and economic reasons have also played a role in the decision to emigrate.

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Lost WWII-era letter teen wrote to sister found in Spain

A Holocaust-era missive a girl sent her twin sister—who made Aliyah and now resides in Israel—has only recently been recovered in Spain, decades later.

 

The events that led to the letter being written and eventually found begin in Germany during World War II, when the parents of Rachel and Fanny Gewertz—then teens—tried saving them from the clutches of the Third Reich. They were able to get Rachel a visa to Palestine, and she made Aliyah.

Fanny, however, was forced to stay in Germany. She survived the Holocaust and in 1944, only a year before Germany surrendered, escaped to Spain through the Pyrenees along with a group of 60 other Jews.

The lost WWII missive

She settled down in Sort, a small village there, and only then did she find the time to write the letter to her sister, with whom she was forced to part because of the war.

The missive made its way through Portugal and Egypt—where it was examined by the country's censors—but was never delivered to Rachel upon reaching Israel for an unknown reason, and was thus returned to sender.

Rachel and Fanny Gewertz

Meanwhile, Fanny moved to Barcelona but the letter was sent back to the inn where she lived with the other Jewish survivors, and the owner tucked it away in a storeroom.

A short time before Israel declared its independence in 1948, Fanny also made Aliyah, and was finally able to meet her long-lost sister Rachel.

The letter Fanny wrote her sister in the 1940s

The letter, however, gathered dust in the Spanish inn and only recently, when someone was tidying up, was it found and given to Spanish historian Joseph Calbet. Calbet was somehow able to track down Rachel, who's now 93 and residing in Rishon Lezion. Her sister had already passed away, but the historian was able to find her son, who also lives in Israel, and share the find with him. Israel's ambassador to Spain Daniel Kutner was also apprised of the letter's story, and was asked by the Spaniard to organize a ceremony in Israel finally delivering it to Rachel.

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Exotic animal-hide kippot impounded from J'lem boutique

Inspectors from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) have confiscated luxury snake and crocodile-skin kippot from a high-end Old City boutique in Jerusalem on the suspicion they were imported illegally and without the requisite permits.

 

Israeli law, prescribed by international treaties, forbids importing and trading items made of wild animals without their origins first being tested and approved by the INPA.

Alligator and snake-skin kippot were confiscated from the store (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

A new Judaica store in the Old City's Jewish Quarter began selling these items for thousands of shekels, and prepared to import more kippot made from the hides of exotic animals.

The inspector who arrived at the store discovered that the items in question, including both kippot and mezuzahs, were imported to Israel without a permit.

According to the inspector, the importer could have been granted the required permit upon request, but his failure to comply with the regulations led to the confiscation of all the items.

  There are numerous animal habitats in the world dedicated to harvesting the animals' hides or other body parts. These habitats are intended to serve as a substitute for hunting the animals in the wild, and only in cases where the local government has approved the animal products are legitimately sourced can they be imported to Israel. "Our products are designs sent to us by an American firm. When we start regulated importing, it will naturally be coordinated with the proper authorities," said Eli Mordechai, the owner of the store.

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Jewish family assaulted in anti-Semitic robbery in France

A Jewish family was beaten, held hostage and robbed in their home near Paris because of their religion, French authorities and anti-hate groups said Sunday.

The three attackers burst into the house in the Paris suburb of Livry-Gargan late Thursday, cut the electricity and confined members of the family until one managed to escape and alert police, said anti-Semitism watchdog BNVCA.

It said the assailants told the three victims: "You are Jews, you have money. We take money from Jews to give to the poor."

Photo: Reuters

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb promised a major effort to arrest those responsible "for this cowardly act (which) appears directly linked to the victims' religion". The BNVCA condemned the attack—in which the assailants made off with jewelry, cash and credit cards—as a "fresh assault that is clearly anti-Semitic". It said the family members were threatened with death, insulted and "violently beaten". Francis Kalifat, president of the CRIF umbrella grouping of French Jewish organizations, said "this horrible act is proof that Jews in France are particularly threatened in the street... and even in their homes." French Jews, the largest community outside of the United States and Israel, have been leaving France at a steady pace since around 2005. Some 5,000 departures in 2016 add to the record 7,900 who left in 2015 and 7,231 in 2014. In total, 40,000 French Jews have emigrated since 2006. The community was shocked in 2006 by the kidnapping and brutal anti-Semitic killing of a young Jewish man, Ilan Halimi, in the Paris suburbs, which was followed by a shooting in a Jewish school in the southwest city of Toulouse in 2012. Experts and members of the Jewish community in France say that the terror attacks in recent years—including one at a Kosher supermarket—are not the only reason people are leaving. Family, religious and economic reasons have also played a role in the decision to emigrate.

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Lost WWII-era letter teen wrote to sister found in Spain

A Holocaust-era missive a girl sent her twin sister—who made Aliyah and now resides in Israel—has only recently been recovered in Spain, decades later.

 

The events that led to the letter being written and eventually found begin in Germany during World War II, when the parents of Rachel and Fanny Gewertz—then teens—tried saving them from the clutches of the Third Reich. They were able to get Rachel a visa to Palestine, and she made Aliyah.

Fanny, however, was forced to stay in Germany. She survived the Holocaust and in 1944, only a year before Germany surrendered, escaped to Spain through the Pyrenees along with a group of 60 other Jews.

The lost WWII missive

She settled down in Sort, a small village there, and only then did she find the time to write the letter to her sister, with whom she was forced to part because of the war.

The missive made its way through Portugal and Egypt—where it was examined by the country's censors—but was never delivered to Rachel upon reaching Israel for an unknown reason, and was thus returned to sender.

Rachel and Fanny Gewertz

Meanwhile, Fanny moved to Barcelona but the letter was sent back to the inn where she lived with the other Jewish survivors, and the owner tucked it away in a storeroom.

A short time before Israel declared its independence in 1948, Fanny also made Aliyah, and was finally able to meet her long-lost sister Rachel.

The letter Fanny wrote her sister in the 1940s

The letter, however, gathered dust in the Spanish inn and only recently, when someone was tidying up, was it found and given to Spanish historian Joseph Calbet. Calbet was somehow able to track down Rachel, who's now 93 and residing in Rishon Lezion. Her sister had already passed away, but the historian was able to find her son, who also lives in Israel, and share the find with him. Israel's ambassador to Spain Daniel Kutner was also apprised of the letter's story, and was asked by the Spaniard to organize a ceremony in Israel finally delivering it to Rachel.

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Holocaust Museum 'horrified' by Myanmar attacks

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum stated it is horrified by the ongoing attacks on Rohingya civilians and is calling on Myamar's government to cease its military operations.

Cameron Hudson, director of the museum's Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, said that "government efforts to deny Rohingya citizenship rights, restrict their freedom of movement and the practice of their faith, and deny their basic human rights have all been identified as leading precursors to a genocide."

A Rohingya man escaping persecution (Photo: Reuters)

In 2012, the museum awarded Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi the Elie Wiesel Award, its highest honor. Now, it says the ideals that she inspired "appear absent" in the defense of Rohingya.

Suu Kyi (Photo: MCT)

The museum stated it implores Suu Kyi to use her position in government and her "even more powerful voice to uphold those very ideals and work to stop the longstanding persecution and violence that threaten the very existence of Rohingya in Burma." Meanwhile, the United Nations has reported that the it along with its partners plan to provide up to 300,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh with food, shelter, water, health care and other services until the end of the year.

Rohingya refugees (Photo: Reuters)

UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at UN headquarters on Friday that while many of the 270,000 Rohingyas who have fled violence in Rakhine state in the past two weeks initially arrived in Bangladesh by land, more are now making the journey by boat. Dujarric said five UN agencies have teams in Cox's Bazar where the Rohingyas are arriving and the $7 million released from the UN emergency fund will allow the UN and its partners to those in desperate need of aid.

Photo: AFP

Dujarric added that Secretary-General António Guterres spoke to Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday and delivered the same message to her that he said publicly. Gutteres told reporters Tuesday the government must end the "vicious cycle of violence" and immediately reverse its longstanding policy and give Rohingya Muslims either nationality or legal status so they can lead normal lives and freely move, find jobs, and get an education.

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J'lem Judaica store offers exotic animal-hide kippot

A Jerusalem Judaica store announced a new line of luxury kippot (skullcaps) made of exotic animal hide, such as alligator, python, cow and—coming soon—ostrich, with each one going for thousands of shekels.

 

"These kippot were born out of the desire to provide people who live in a world of luxury and brands a kippah befitting their lifestyle," explained Eli Mordechai, owner of the "Fifth Quarter" Judaica store in Jerusalem's Old City and importer of these specialty items. "A person wearing a 10,000-dollar Gucci suit won't be caught dead wearing a 50-dollar off-brand kippah."

Eli Mordechai, owner of high-end Jerusalem boutique offering exotic kippot (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

The kippot are manufactured by David Reutmann, a businessman originally from Israel, who was on the lookout for "glam kippot" for himself but failed to find any. Determined to fill the apparent gap in the market, Reutmann opened a high-end Judaica product business. According to him, the kippot are made of the finest Italian leathers and come in luxurious wooden boxes. Compared to "regular" kippot, which are usually sold at affordable prices, Reutmann's kippot can go for thousands of shekels, with the alligator-skin kippah costing NIS 4,000, (approximately $1,100) and the python-skin one setting you back NIS 5,000 (approximately $1,400).

Who'd be willing to pay these exorbitant sums? "The primary audience is rich Russian oligarchs, but now it's any self-respecting people who wish to display their Jewish identity," said Mordechai before proudly bragging that "The business expanded to Europe and the US first, and we're the first place to sell them in Israel."

Alligator and snake-skin kippot (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

So far, the kippot have gotten some mixed reactions. "Some people think it's too expensive and ask who needs it, but others are happy someone has finally taken it upon themselves to offer quality kippot," said Mordechai. As for the fact some of the kippot are made from the hides of animals that are not considered kosher, Mordechai insisted it poses no problem from the perspective of Jewish law. "The kippah itself isn't a ritual article like the tefillin, mezuzah or Torah, necessitating the use of the skin of only kosher animals. Fabric, leather or any other material is permissible."

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Israel to give $1 Million in aid to Houston's Jewish community

Israel will reportedly donate $1 million in emergency aid to Houston's Jewish community to aid in post-Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett says in a statement that the funds will be earmarked to help the 60,000-strong community repair and rebuild schools, synagogues and a community center damaged in the storm and floods.

 

A Torah scroll is removed from the Houston Chabad House (Photo: Chabad.org)

"The city of Houston was hurt badly last week, and the Jewish community, 70 percent of which lived in the flooded neighborhoods, was hit hard," said Bennett. "Schools and synagogues were flooded and can’t be used. The old-age home and JCC were damaged, and hundreds of families will remain homeless. From talks we’ve had over the past week with the heads of the community and Israel’s Consul General we learned the damage is vast, and the rehabilitation will take years.

Photo: Chabad.org

"For years, the Jewish communities stood by Israel when it needed their help; now it is our turn to stand by Houston’s Jewish community," added Bennett.

Photo: Chabad.org

The aid money will be submitted for government approval at an upcoming Cabinet meeting.

Awaiting rescue (Photo: Reuters)

Hurricane Harvey struck on Aug. 25 and pounded the city with five consecutive days of heavy rains, causing an estimated tens of billions of dollars in damage. So far, 47 are known to have died as a result of the hurricane.

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Kashrut fees raised on Jerusalem business over new Russian partner

Gabriel Piamenta, the owner of the Jerusalem tea house Halita'tea, was shocked to learn he would have to pay more money for his kashrut certificate because his new business partner is of Russian descent.

Halita'tea has been in business for four years and has had no kashrut issues so far. Recently, when Piamenta decided to expand, take on a new business partner and move his business to a larger location across the street, he was surprised to learn the Jerusalem Religious Council raised the kashrut certification prices on him.

"We noticed the new kashrut certificate wasn't coming, so I called the kashrut supervisor to ask what happened," says Piamenta.

Gabriel Piamenta, left, and his business partner Leon Schwartz (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

"He told me they won't issue a new certificate for us until we sorted out the financial issues because the new place was bigger and requires more work for the kashrut supervisor," he went on to say. Piamenta, who grew up in a religious house, was never happy with the work of the kashrut supervisor, who he says came to the business once a month "to collect his check and sit around for a little bit." "I told him this was merely a ploy, that the supervisor didn't do anything beyond checking that there is a kashrut certificate, and that even if the work in the kitchen increased fourfold, he was still only really coming to check the certificates," Piamenta went on to say. "And then he told me he had met my new business partner, Leon. He told me: 'I don't like the looks of him, he's Russian, I don't trust him,' and said this was why we were being charged more money." Leon Schwartz, Piamenta's new partner, says he was shocked to learn this. He made aliyah from Russia at a young age and has been living in Israel for almost 30 years. "When I was nine, I asked my father to be circumcised," he recounts.

"They're looking for excuses to take more money," Schwartz says. "A lot of the time they seem to forget that 'Though shall not steal' and 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor' are the basic tenets of the Ten Commandments. It just proves they're thieves and liars, and to me that makes me more Jewish than them. The basis of Judaism is to be a human being before anything else."

Schwatz and Piamenta at their tea house (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

Piamenta says the tea house's dishwasher, who is of Ethiopian descent, was also marked by the kashrut department as reason to increase supervision of their kitchen. "He (the kashrut supervisor) stated the fact there's a 'negro' working in the kitchen, meaning our Ethiopian dishwasher. So (his claim was) if the supervisor is not present, there is no one to make sure (the dishwasher) doesn't touch the food. He treated him as 'black,' the same way he treated Leon as 'Russian,'" he explains. The two business partners decided to turn to their customers through Facebook and seek their opinion on whether the tea house should keep getting its kashrut supervision from the Chief Rabbinate. Following recommendations from many customers, Piamenta and Schwartz are now considering switching to the services of the Hashgaha Pratit (private supervision) organization. "In light of the kashrut supervisor's comments and the unpleasantness of working with him, we began looking for alternatives to the (Chief) Rabbinate. We're keeping the place kosher, just as it was before, and we're looking for a solution that would allow our customers to keep frequenting us," they said on Facebook. Rabbi Oren Duvdevani, the head of Hashgaha Pratit's kashrut supervision apparatus, said the organization was "already in contact with the business, and with God's help we will offer them the service we already provide dozens of businesses across Israel—kashrut, according to the Halacha (Jewish law), with accredited supervisors who, in addition to being highly professional and well versed in kashrut law, believe that proper behavior precedes the Torah." The Jerusalem Chief Rabbinate said in response, "The tea house operated on 5 Hillel Street under limited format and moved its location to 6 Hillel Street under a broader format, both in terms of space and supply. Therefore, the business must pay additional fees in accordance with the law. The claims the business owners made, while making cynical use of the media, are distorted and outrageous and are a failed attempt at winning the sympathy of certain publics."

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