Daily Archives: August 19, 2005

Israeli Settler Violence
Exposes Jewish Fundamentalism

After reading the article below I decided to type my own rant, however there are so many points to argue, I am afraid I will miss something, so I will just let you guys/gals take advantage of our comment section and type your own rant, rant away.

“The biggest story this summer out of Israeli-occupied Palestine is the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Last week, Israel began its scheduled withdrawal of all 8,000 Jewish settlers from the 40 percent of Gaza they have been illegally occupying for 38 years, as well as the soldiers who have been there to protect them.

Shabbos Times For The Castkills Region And Brooklyn

Hello…. Is There Anybody Out There?

Today is a very sad day in the history of the Jewish People, and what makes it even sadder for me is that so few Jews outside of Israel truly grasp the gravity and implication of the events taking place here in Israel.

I have heard time and again from my peers living in the United States (and not only in connection with Israel’s “disengagement” from Gush Katif and the northern Shomron) the following sentiment:

“I have to admit to not following as closely as I should what is going on in Israel.”

Candidate accused of anti-Jewish talk

The King County Labor Council voted this week to oppose the re-election of Cindi Laws to the Seattle Monorail Project board, citing remarks she made about Jewish monorail opponents during an endorsement interview this month.

During her Aug. 9 interview, Laws was asked to assess her election challengers, including Beth Goldberg, a county budget analyst and monorail opponent. Goldberg is Jewish.

In response, Laws talked about how former monorail director Joel Horn used to joke that he and a few other people at the agency were the only Jews in favor of the monorail, according to union officials and their notes taken at the interview.

Pope Warns of Increase in Anti-Semitism

Pope Benedict XVI warned Friday of rising anti-Semitism and hostility to foreigners during a visit to a synagogue that was rebuilt after being destroyed during the Nazis’ infamous Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938.

Benedict became only the second pope to visit a synagogue, praying and remembering Holocaust victims with Cologne’s Jewish community _ Germany’s oldest.

Judges Seek Crown Heights’ Support

New York judges, Mrs. Margarita Lopez and Mr. Larry Knipel met with Crown Heights’ council members, Rabbi Chanina Sperlin, Rabbi Tzvi Lang, Rabbi Leibish Nash, and some additional Crown Heights residents: Rabbi Eliyahu Slavin, Rabbi Nachum Gross, Rabbi Reuven Lipkind and Rabbi Yosef Pruss, to reqeust Crown Heights’ support in the oncoming elections for judges in the high court dealing with legacies and guardianships.

COL’s Pic Of The Day

The Chassidic philanthropist, Rabbi Avrohom New, is seen donating blood in the recent blood drive in Crown Heights arranged by the ‘Ahavas Chessed’ organization. The chairman Reb Avrohom Lieder is seen near him.

U.S. Jews buy Gaza greenhouses for Palestinians

This one is just beyond me. How can this pass?

New York (dpa) – American Jewish philanthropists contributed 14 million dollars to buy former Gaza settlers’ greenhouses for Palestinians, a news report said Thursday.

Without the funds, the Jewish settlers would have destroyed the greenhouses to keep them out of Arab hands as they were forced out of Gaza Strip, The New York Times said.

The greenhouses provide jobs for 3,500 Palestinians and had been a lucrative market for fresh produces for Jewish settlers.

The Times said Mortimer B. Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News and a real estate tycoon, last week got a request from former World Bank head James D. Wolfensohn to raise money in order to save the greenhouses. Zuckerman sent out word to Jewish organizations in the United States for help.

Within 48 hours, he received 14 million dollars. Wolfensohn, who contributed 500,000 dollars of his own, is the international envoy to Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.

He represents the sponsors of the so-called road map for Mideast peace – the United States, the European Union, Russia and the U.N. The Gaza pullout is part of the quartet’s peace plan.

The private fundraising efforts to buy the greenhouses spread quickly and got U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s support. She called donors and thanked them for helping the peace process in the Middle East, The Times said.

Jewish couple hopes to fill spiritual void

NORTH PORT — When Rabbi Sholom Schmerling and his wife, Rivka, arrived in North Port four months ago, they expected to help fill a void in the Jewish community through their outreach program.

So far, they’ve found a variety of ways to accomplish that goal.

“We hope to grow in any areas needed by Jews,” Rivka Schmerling said. “We came to Florida. We know couples who have been sent to out all over the world. We’ve come to a place where there is a need for a Jewish outreach.”

The couple’s first goal was to meet people. They held an ice cream party during the Shavout holiday that attracted about 20 people from Venice and North Port.

They noticed Jewish families weren’t being offered social centers to help continue their culture and religious education, mainly because Jews have become so well integrated in the culture, politics and academics of society.

American Rabbi Coping In China

SHANGHAI, China — The boom of China has lured countless Americans: manufacturing CEOS, high-tech entrepreneurs, bankers, lawyers and investment moguls.

And one rabbi from Brooklyn.

Asked seven years ago to move from Crown Heights to a country where many people still don’t have flush toilets, “I asked, `Do they have electricity? Do they have hot water?’ ” Shalom Greenberg said.

But there was an even bigger challenge for the rabbi from the orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch organization: leading Jews in a country that does not officially recognize Judaism.

“I didn’t know the concept existed of Jews living in China,” Greenberg said.

Most of Diaspora Jewry accepted disengagement months ago

Opponents of the disengagement plan within Israel held out until the end. Not so Jews around the world, most of whom either welcomed the government’s decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, coolly accepted it as inevitable, or abstained from the debate altogether.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Diaspora have followed the disengagement issue with great concern, but their leaders conceded the fight months ago.

While Chabad in Israel has been prominently involved in the anti-disengagement campaign, the Chabad-dominated Federation of Jewish Communities in the Commonwealth of Independent States has paid very little or no attention to the debate. Instead, it has remained focused on stabilizing the hundreds of Jewish communities spread across the vast expanse of the former Soviet Union.

Jews take the lead in the ranks of self-employed

Jewish people in Britain are the most likely to be self-employed, according to research by the Office for National Statistics.

The study found that one in three (33%) Jewish people ran their own business, compared with 20% of Muslims and just one in 10 Christians.

High-profile members of the Jewish business community include Sir Alan Sugar, the founder of Amstrad, star of the television show The Apprentice and arguably Britain’s most famous entrepreneur.

California Schedules Primary on Rosh Hashanah

California Jewish groups are upset by the timing of an election to replace Chris Cox, who left Congress to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced this week the election will be held Dec. 6 with a primary on Oct. 4. The October date is also the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar.