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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Polish police suspect old Jewish cemetery was damaged

WARSAW — Police in western Poland are investigating whether a historic Jewish cemetery was damaged after workers uncovered human remains and tombstones at a construction site.

 

Anna Dygas, from the police department in the village of Maszewo, told The Associated Press on Thursday that an investigation has been opened into possible damage to a burial site. Experts were analyzing the human remains and the tombstones.

The private owner of the site notified police Tuesday after human bones surfaced during work to prepare the site for a construction job.

A tombstone from the Jewish cemetery in Maszewo (Photo: Virtual Shtetl)

The head of Poland's Jewish community, Leslaw Piszewski, said he was "devastated" by the report. He said the Jewish community will take steps to have a proper reburial of the remains at the same site.

So far, only about 500 out of some 1,600 Jewish cemeteries have been returned to the Jewish community in Poland, including some synagogues and prayer houses, he said. The properties, most of whose owners and users perished in the Holocaust, were seized by the communist state after World War II. They are now being gradually returned.

An amateur historian, Wojciech Janda, said the site is a 200-year-old small Jewish cemetery. Last year a history association he belongs to included the neglected, overgrown cemetery on a list of historical monuments.

Ewa Stanecka, a local official in charge of historic sites, said the owner never sought permission for the construction.

 

According to Janda, the first written mention of Maszewo's Jewish cemetery dates back to 1820, when the area was part of Prussia and then Germany. The last burial was in 1933. The Germans destroyed the cemetery, breaking its walls and the tombstones, amid rising anti-Semitism in 1938.

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Holocaust survivor celebrates bar mitzvah in Israel, 80 years later

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Shalom Shtamberg, whose parents and five brothers who were killed in the Holocaust, was taken to Warsaw Ghetto at age 13 when he was supposed to mark his bar mitzvah, but eighty years on, he read from the Torah scrolls and enjoyed the long-awaited celebrations. Holocaust survivor celebrates bar mitzvah in Israel, 80 years later : http://ift.tt/2vwR3qH

European Jewish Congress sees rising anti-Semitism in Poland

The European Jewish Congress expressed "grave concerns" Thursday over what it says is a rise in anti-Semitism in Poland and a "deteriorating relationship between the Polish government and the Jewish community." The Brussels-based organization says no Polish government minister has met with leaders of the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland, the official community, for around a year amid the rise in anti-Semitic incidents. "Across Europe, governments consult with the local official leaders of the community to seek their counsel and coordinate a response to anti-Semitism," the group's president, Moshe Kantor, said. "However, Poland stands out as an example of a leadership which appears to have little interest in opening a dialogue with the Jewish community."

Members of the far-right group, the National-Radical Camp, marking the 83rd anniversary of their organization (Photo: AP)

The statement comes after Jewish leaders in Poland wrote to ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski in early August with their concerns, noting the increased presence in public life of extremist far-right groups and greater hate speech and violence targeting Jews.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski (Photo: AP)

They didn't receive an answer or a meeting with Kaczynski, but within days Kaczynski met with several Jewish representatives from other organizations, including the Orthodox Chabad movement.

That meeting led to fears among official Jewish community representatives that Kaczynski was trying to marginalize them and whitewash the issue of anti-Semitism.

Supporters of the far-right National-Radical Camp during anti EU protest (Photo: AP)

Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said Jews still feel much safer in Poland than they do in parts of Europe where anti-Semitism is much stronger and sometimes violent, including France, Scandinavia and Hungary. But he said the situation is getting worse and "the biggest concern is a lack of communication with the government." "For first time in many years people are not feeling 100 percent comfortable, as they used to," Schudrich told The Associated Press on Thursday. "It's not that the government supports this but we need it to be more vigilant in articulating their rejection of any form of anti-Semitism or racism."

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Belarus court approves construction over two demolished Jewish cemeteries

Residential towers will be constructed over ancient Jewish cemeteries in Belarus, following a ruling by the country's district court, despite petitions from the local Jewish community headed by Yakov Gutman, President of the World Association of Belarusian Jewry.

 

Two Jewish cemeteries in Gomel, Belarus, at least one of which is from the 12th century, were completely demolished recently after a highly publicized public battle failed to secure their preservation. With the destruction, human remains can be found strewn around the leveled ground.

Jewish bones litter the site of two soon-to-be-constructed towers (Photo: zvarot.by)

"The bones of Jews have become construction waste, and are mixed in with concrete," said Gutman after the ruling.

Two years ago a similar decision was made in the country to demolish a Jewish cemetery in Mazyr. The Belarus Jewish community also accused President Alexander Lukashenko of sanctioning the destruction of three synagogues in Lyuban and Minsk, and two other Jewish cemeteries.

"It's a disgrace," said Rita, whose grandmother was buried in the cemetery. "We weren't informed of anything. People went through the Holocaust, and end up like that. Now we don't know where her grave is," she bemoaned. "We want to go there, but my grandmother's grave is gone. How can you do something like that?"

Construction on the site unearthed the Jewish remains (Photo: zvarot.by)

The Belarus Jewish community—dating back to the 12th century—numbers some 10,000 people today. Gutman says local Jewish heritage has suffered irreparable harm under Lukashenko and activists are afraid to fight it out in local courts, particularly given his know cavalier attitude toward human rights.  Indeed, the president was arrested in 2004 for human rights violations.

Commenting on the court's ruling, the Belarusian Ministry of Construction and Social Services said it possesses no information as to the location of the aforementioned cemeteries. MK Ksenia Svetlova of the Zionist Union wrote to President Lukashenko, asking for his assistance in the matter.

"I ask you to intercede and make sure no harm comes to the cemeteries," Svetlova wrote during the struggle against demolished. Today she works to prevent construction in the area.

An overhead view of the site (Photo: gp.by)

"A year ago your government's minister of foreign affairs signed a declaration created by the World Jewish Congress according to which your government—like any other government which signed the declaration—will do everything in its power to preserve heritage sites which are holy to any religion. Among these sites are Jewish cemeteries," she again wrote the Belarusian president. "Many Jewish heritage and cultural sites may be found in Belarus," she continued, "and up to now Jews have enjoyed freedom of religion and worship, like members of other religions. Cemeteries are holy sites, a point thus far understood and religiously respected in your country."

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Jewish human rights organization rebukes German magazine for Trump 'Nazi salute' cover

This week's cover of a popular German news magazine depicting US President Donald Trump draped in the American flag while giving a stiff-armed Nazi salute is drawing sharp criticism from a prominent Jewish group. Stern magazine's illustration is part of a cover story headlined "Sein Kampf," which translates as "His Struggle" and is a play on Adolf Hitler's infamous "Mein Kampf." It comes as part of the wave of backlash Trump has faced for not denouncing the Nazis, anti-Semites, racists and white supremasicts at the Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virgina, earlier this month.

Trump's 'Nazi salute' cover (Photo: AP)

Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center human rights center said it has been "outspoken in criticizing President Trump for failing to make a distinction between Nazis and KKK protesters and those who opposed them." But it said "the depiction of the president as a latter-day Hitler by a major German publication is untrue and beyond the pale."

It says "Germans must surely know that by misappropriating" Nazi symbols "they belittle and becloud" past crimes.

After initially criticizing the general "hatred" displayed at the Charotteville, Virginia Nazi rally that devolved into a violent

brawl, Trump then denounced those who took part in the Charlotteville rally, including those who chanted "Jews will not replace us." However, Trump followed this up by saying that "very fine people" were on "both sides" of the demonstrations, which drew neo-Nazis, white nationalists and members of the Ku Klux Klan. One woman was killed when an alleged white nationalist drove his car into a group of counterprotesters.

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US rabbis protest Trump by dropping holiday conference call

American rabbis critical of US President Donald Trump will not try to organize a conference call with him for the Jewish High Holy Days in protest of his response to a white nationalist rally in Virginia.

The conference call for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur was a tradition under former president Barack Obama, but was never planned under Trump. Rabbis representing the liberal and centrist branches of American Judaism said they would not attempt to plan any such call ahead of the holidays next month.

Trump (Photo: AFP)

After initially criticizing the general "hatred" displayed during Charotteville, Virginia Nazi rally earlier this month that devolved into a violent brawl, Trump then denounced those who took part in the Charlotteville rally, including those who chanted "Jews will not replace us." However, Trump followed this up by saying that "very fine people" were on "both sides" of the demonstrations, which drew neo-Nazis, white nationalists and members of the Ku Klux Klan. One woman was killed when an alleged white nationalist drove his car into a group of counterprotesters. "The president's words have given succor to those who advocate anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia," the rabbis said Wednesday in announcing their decision. The announcement came from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which represent the liberal Reform movement; the Rabbinical Assembly, which represents the centrist Conservative movement; and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said he did not know whether the Trump administration had been considering participating in such a conference call this year.

Photo: AFP

The Rabbinical Council of America, which represents modern Orthodox rabbis, had joined the presidential holiday call in the past but did not sign this week's announcement. Rabbi Mark Dratch, executive vice president of the group, said, "We respect the office of the presidency and believe it is more effective to address questions and concerns directly with the White House." The council had issued a statement soon after the violence in Charlottesville criticizing Trump's remarks as a "failing of moral leadership" that "fans the flames of intolerance."

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