Someone was missing at President Joe Biden’s first cabinet meeting held on Thursday April 1st. Remember his campaign promise that he would unite America again and appoint the most diverse cabinet and administration in history, representing the gorgeous American mosaic? Now into the fourth month of his administration, he has yet to appoint any Republicans. There are several thousand cabinet, sub cabinet, agency administrators and others who will be appointed by the White House to serve at the pleasure of the President. Republicans continue to represent a significant portion of America.
Why has he failed to appoint any to serve in his Cabinet and administration? Mr. Biden has failed in following up on this public commitment on this issue. Even former Democratic President Barack Obama appointed Ray LaHood–Republican Congressmember from Illinois as his Secretary of Transportation. Actions speak louder than words. His call for bringing America together appears to just be campaign rhetoric. Biden practices to the victor belongs the spoils. Quid pro quo is alive and well in the White House under his watch. It is business as usual at the expense of taxpayers..
Sincerely, Larry Penner
Who Will Pay for the Infrastructure Plan?
Dear Editor:
It is both notable and admirable that the Biden Administration supports fully paying for their infrastructure package. That is an important marker of fiscal responsibility – new initiatives, including temporary ones, should be fully offset. Considering the strong pace of vaccination, expectations of a robust economic recovery, and massive amounts of money still in the recovery pipeline, at this time there is no further justification for additional borrowing.
Congress should heed the President’s call to fully offset all new spending and tax cuts. If they do not like the specific proposals included in President Biden’s plan, they should offer alternative tax increases and/or spending cuts, or reduce the size of the package to what they are willing to pay for.
In light of a record high, growing, and unsustainable debt, this infrastructure spending package should be paid for over a shorter time period than the 15 years they propose. It is critical that new spending in the plan be credibly temporary, especially considering the unusually long window for offsets, and that dollars be spent effectively on true and worthwhile one-time investments.
Finally, the price tag on this plan is high. While the country is clearly in need of infrastructure investment, it is not at all clear that $2 trillion of spending is needed or justified. Congress should do the important work to build a package this is a reasonable cost, well targeted, economically justified, and free of political favoritism.
A well-designed and fully paid-for infrastructure package could help support strong economic growth. Policymakers must not turn this package into a political wish list, paid for by our grandchildren.
It is encouraging to see a policy proposal put forward along with a way to pay for it. If something is worth doing, it is worth paying for.
Sincerely Maya MacGuineas President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
The Israeli Election Debacle
Dear Editor:
After reading your coverage of the recently held elections in Israel, I must admit I am sitting here scratching my head in total dismay. This is now the fourth time in the last two years that Israeli have gone to the polls to choose their next ruling party and next prime minister, yet despite the rigorous campaigning it appears that there is no solid winner and that a coalition government may not have a chance of being formed.
To even entertain the absurd notion of a possible 5th election in the summer is really way too difficult for me to contemplate. I am not an Israeli but I do feel for them. Their political future is beyond murky and with Biden in the White House, we can only pray that he does not go down the same road as former President Obama did in his feckless attempts to achieve Middle East peace.
In my humble and perhaps entirely uneducated opinion, I think Israel needs Benjamin Netanyahu at the helm more than ever. A crafty politician, he has the ability to circumvent any kind of disastrous territorial compromise that would emanate from the US State Department and more to the point, I truly believe he would have the backing of those he represents in Israel.
I am cognizant of the fact that Netanyahu is the only prime minister in Israel’s history that has retained his position while on trial for corruption, but I will tell you this: If one thinks that Donald Trump was specifically targeted by his political opponents for impeachment and constant harassment, that pales in comparison to what Netanyahu is going through. The way I see it is that these so-called corruption charges are so flimsy that no real court that is dedicated to true justice could ever convict him.
After being forced by Covid-19 restrictions to celebrate Passover alone last year, like their Israeli brethren, American Jews were by and large able to celebrate the Passover seder with their friends and families this year.
By: Caroline Glick
After being forced by Covid-19 restrictions to celebrate Passover alone last year, like their Israeli brethren, American Jews were by and large able to celebrate the Passover seder with their friends and families this year. And as in Israel, American Jewish families reveled in their deliverance from loneliness on the Jewish festival of deliverance.
But even the joy of Passover couldn’t dispel the twin storm clouds rising around the largest Jewish diaspora.
The first threat is growing Jew-hatred. American Jewish groups are good at fighting white supremacism. Unfortunately, the most dangerous external threat to Jewish life in America doesn’t come from neo-Nazis. It comes from their home base.
Along with Hindus, Jewish Americans are the most highly educated religious group in America. American Jews have long assumed that the primary source of anti-Semitism in America is ignorance and that as education levels rise, levels of anti-Semitism would decrease. Given the prevalence of anti-Semitism on university campuses, researchers at the University of Arkansas decided to check this assumption.
Black activist Tamika Mallory, who referred to Farrakhan as “the GOAT” (i.e., the greatest of all time) gave a speech about racial justice. Photo Credit: AP
Publishing their findings this week in Tablet magazine, they demonstrated just how wrong this assumption has become. Contrary to what Jewish organizations have long claimed, it turns out that the more educated Americans are, the more anti-Semitic they are.
College graduates are five percent more likely to apply anti-Semitic double standards to Jews than Americans who haven’t gone to college. Holders of advanced degrees used double standards against Jews 15% more often than respondents without higher educations.
The implications are dire. Academia, American Jewry’s home turf for a century and the key to their entry into the American elite – is now hostile territory.
Then there is the media. In the mid-20th century, American Jews were pioneers of the US mass media, entertainment and music industries. Increasingly, however, today they are their punching bag.
Last month, Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update segment included a “news brief” on Israel’s Covid-19 vaccination effort. The punchline had Israel only vaccinating its Jewish citizens. This lie didn’t come from nowhere. It was born in the slander that the only liberal democracy in the Middle East is a racist state. SNL’s employment of the slur was an expression of its general acceptance in progressive circles today.
A few days later, NBC‘s drama series “Nurses” depicted Orthodox Jews as rabid racists. Resonating Nazi propaganda, a scene in the show depicted an Orthodox Jewish patient and his family rejecting his doctor’s recommendation that he receive an organ transplant because the organ may come from a “non-Jew.”
Obviously, the show’s writers, producers and directors wouldn’t have incorporated this rank anti-Semitism into their script if they didn’t believe it or feared they wouldn’t get away with it.
And so far, they have gotten away with it.
A week and a half ago, CNN host Don Lemon appeared on ABC‘s The View to discuss remedies for America’s supposed “structural racism.”
Lemon said a first step to purging Americans of racism was for them to replace their pictures of Jesus which portray him as “a hippy from Sweden or Norway” with new ones that show “what Jesus looked like.”
And what did Jesus really look like?
“Either a black Jesus or a brown Jesus because we know Jesus looked more like a Muslim,” Lemon declaimed, knowingly.
Like SNL’s anti-Semitic joke, and “Nurse’s” anti-Semitic drama, Lemon’s failure to mention that Jesus was a Jew from Bethlehem didn’t come from nowhere. It came from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Today the preacher who admires Hitler is viewed as an “authentic” woke religious leader by millions of woke revolutionaries. His celebrity arguably makes him the most powerful Jew-hater in American history. Lemon’s statement echoed Farrakhan’s assertion that Jews are “fake Jews,” and that the “real Jews” are blacks and Muslims.
The Grammy Awards ceremony last month made clear that woke anti-Semitism isn’t a bar for entry into the top echelons of American celebrity culture. It may even be an asset. Black activist Tamika Mallory, who referred to Farrakhan as “the GOAT” (i.e., the greatest of all time) gave a speech about racial justice. And singer Dua Lipa, who has attacked Israelis as “fake Jews” and claimed Hamas is an Israeli invention performed at the event.
Then there is the Democrat Party – the political home of 65-75% of American Jews. It isn’t simply that anti-Semitic politicians like Rashida Tlaib, Betty McCollum and Ilhan Omar are now ascendant, or that pro-Israel politicians like Elliot Engel and Dan Lipinski have been booted out of power.
It isn’t even simply that senior politicians like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill Deblasio use anti-Semitism to rally their supporters or that President Joe Biden has appointed open Israel haters and BDS activists to senior positions in his administration.
Last week Biden held a Passover seder at the White House which erased the Jews and God from the story of their deliverance from Egypt. The White House invited the progressive, anti-Israel rabbi Sharon Brous to officiate at the event that rewrote and de-Judaized every aspect of the Jewish festival of Jewish freedom.
Singer Dua Lipa has attacked Israelis as “fake Jews” and claimed Hamas is an Israeli invention. Photo Credit: YouTube
Disastrously, these assaults on all aspects of Jewish life and identity by the woke left are happening as many American Jews are abandoning their Judaism because they see little reason to remain actively Jewish. More than 70% of non-Orthodox Jews who get married, marry non-Jews. Even more startling, only half of non-Orthodox American Jews of marriage age (25-54) are married at all. Of those who are married, only 15% are raising children as Jews. Non-Orthodox Jewish women have the lowest fertility rates in the US.
Given the data, it makes sense that 65-75% of American Jews remain in a political and ideological home that is hostile to Jews. It’s a matter of priorities. It also explains why much of the communal response to both rising anti-Semitism and rising assimilation has been ineffective and even counterproductive.
Take the Anti-Defamation League, for instance. With an annual budget of around $100 million, the ADL is supposed to be the community’s first line of defense against anti-Semitism. But with leadership comprised of dedicated foot soldiers of the progressive revolution, rather than fight the TV networks proliferating anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and libels, or the BDS brownshirts on campuses terrorizing Jewish students, the ADL has devoted its resources to fighting “white supremacy.” To be sure, as the Pittsburgh and San Diego synagogue shootings made clear, white supremacists are a threat. But unlike the progressive Jew-haters, white supremacists have no foothold in the mass media, in politics, in academia or in popular culture.
In January, a group of powerful leftist Jewish groups with strong ties to the Biden administration including J Street, Americans for Peace Now and the New Israel Fund began lobbying the administration to cancel the Trump administration’s decision to adopt the definition of anti-Semitism produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The IHRA definition asserts that rejecting Israel’s right to exist and applying a double standard when judging it are forms of anti-Semitism.
These determinations make IHRA a problem for progressive anti-Semites who routinely reject Israel’s right to exist and apply a double standard to delegitimize it.
Last month, a consortium of far-left Jewish activists produced a new definition of anti-Semitism that specifically argued that rejection of Israel’s right to exist is not a form of anti-Semitism. In other words, rather than fight progressive anti-Semitism, powerful progressive Jewish groups and key activists are actively enabling anti-Semitic assaults on their fellow Jews by their fellow progressives.
As for the crisis of assimilation, rather than give American Jews a reason to live full Jewish lives, powerful Jewish institutions are denying there is a problem. This week, researchers at Brandeis published a new survey of the American Jewish population which determined that the Jewish population in America is growing, not shrinking. According to the study, there are 7.6 million Jews in America. This number is a striking departure from demographer Sergio Della Pergola’s 2019 study which concluded the community has shrunk to 5.7 million.
The Brandeis researchers “discovered” an additional 1.9 million Jews by counting Americans who describe themselves as “Jews with no religion” and “partial” Jews. They also included 1.2 million children growing up in homes with at least one Jewish parent being “raised as a Jew in any way,” which as American Jewish writer Jonathan Tobin notes is a “requirement so loosely defined as to be meaningless.”
Tobin noted that by expanding the number of Jews to include those with only the most attenuated relationship with Judaism, the Brandeis study provides a rationale for Jewish organizations to devote a larger portion of the (rapidly shrinking) communal resources to people with little attachment or interest in Judaism, and to do so at the expense of American Jews committed to living Jewish lives.
A growing number of committed American Jews are already finding themselves on the outs with their communities. Over the past five years, stories have abounded of members of Reform and Conservative congregations who have been ostracized or forced to leave their communities due to their conservative political beliefs. The most frequently affected have been Jews who openly supported then-president Trump.
Fighting assimilation trends has also gotten many Jews into hot water. American Jewish historian Jack Wertheimer has reported that Reform and Conservative rabbis who refuse to perform intermarriages have been sanctioned and even fired from their pulpits. He noted as well that Reform rabbis who simply encouraged their synagogue members to date other Jews have faced negative repercussions from their congregants. Intermarried couples, he reported, increasingly expect their rabbis to perform services celebrating Jewish and Christian holidays to make their non-Jewish spouses feel welcome.
Jewish organizations that seek to act on behalf of communal interests by fighting progressive anti-Semitism are also coming under attack. Perhaps the most prominent example is Boston’s Jewish Community Relations Council decision to consider a petition by progressive groups to expel the conservative Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) from its ranks.
The progressive groups demanded ZOA’s expulsion because ZOA President Mort Klein spoke out publicly against Black Lives Matter’s vicious anti-Semitism. The progressives also objected to Klein’s support for Trump.
While the JCRC rightly recognized that “expulsion [of the ZOA] at this time would not serve the interests of the JCRC or of the broader Jewish community in Boston,” it didn’t question the legitimacy of the petition to expel the ZOA.
Former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro recently attacked as “racists” and “bigots” Jews who voiced opposition to Biden’s appointment of Arab Americans with open records of hostility towards Israel and support for Palestinian terrorism. Shapiro argued that their Arab identity gives them a pass for advocating on behalf of Israel’s destruction.
The silver lining in the gloomy picture is that between 25% and 40% of American Jews remain deeply committed to their Judaism and to preserving, defending and passing on their identity to the next generation. This group includes both Orthodox Jews, Zionist Jews of varying levels of religious observance and politically conservative Jews. As the progressive Jewish American establishment focuses on reaching out to assimilated Jews and appeasing progressive Jew-haters, Israel can and must support this committed minority. Such assistance will no doubt increase their numbers and empower them to stand up for themselves and their rights as Jews.
Such assistance will ensure that that American Jews will continue to join their Israeli counterparts in singing “Next Year in Jerusalem” for generations to come – and many will do so in Jerusalem with their grandchildren.
All men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” declares the Declaration of Independence.
When they’re abandoned, evil eventually ensues.
By: Dennis Prager
Conservatives often speak of Judeo-Christian values and how the current civil war in the United States and the rest of the West is essentially a battle between those values and the left, which rejects Judeo-Christian values.
They are right.
But they rarely explain what Judeo-Christian values are. Yet, without an explanation, mentioning Judeo-Christian values is useless.
So, let me do that now.
First, a word about the term. Some Jews and Christians find the term confusing, if not objectionable, since Judaism and Christianity have different theologies. But no one speaks of Judeo-Christian heology, only of Judeo-Christian values.
Judeo-Christian values are essentially another term for biblical values. Judaism and Christianity are both based on the Old Testament — its God, its Ten Commandments, its admonition to love one’s neighbor as oneself, to love God, to lead a holy life, etc. Christians also believe in the New Testament, but only an opponent of Christianity would argue that the New Testament negates the values of the Old.
Here they are:
Objective moral standards come from God. As I have written and spoken about in a PragerU video and elsewhere, if there is no God who declares murder wrong, murder can be subjectively wrong but not objectively wrong. So, while there can certainly be nonbelievers who hold murder, stealing and other actions wrong, without God, those are opinions, not moral facts. Without the God of the Bible, there are no moral facts.
God judges our behavior, and we are therefore accountable to God for our behavior. Outside of a religious worldview, there is no higher being to whom we are morally accountable.
Just as morality derives from God, so do rights. All men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” declares the Declaration of Independence.
The human being is uniquely precious. While the Bible repeatedly forbids cruel behavior to animals (cutting or tearing off the limb of a living animal to eat it as a means of preserving the rest of the animal, not allowing an animal a day of rest, not allowing an animal to eat while working in the field), only human beings are created in God’s image.
The world is based on a divine order, meaning divinely ordained distinctions. Among these divine distinctions are: God and man, man and woman, human and animal, good and evil, and nature and God.
Human beings are not basically good. Therefore, the most important moral endeavor is making good people. Religious Jews and Christians understand that the greatest battle in life is with one’s nature. For the opponents of Judeo-Christian values, the greatest moral battle is not with one’s nature; it is with society (specifically, American society).
Precisely because we are not basically good, we must not trust our hearts to lead us to proper behavior. The road to hell is paved with good hearts. Feelings make us human, but they cannot direct our lives. This alone divides the Bible-based from those on the left.
All human beings are created in God’s image. Therefore, race is of no significance. We all emanate from Adam and Eve, whose race is never mentioned. That many religious people held racist views only testifies to the almost infinite ability of people to distort what is good.
Fear God, not man. Fear of God is a foundation of morality. In the Book of Exodus, Egyptian midwives were ordered by the Pharaoh to kill all newborn Hebrew boys. They disobeyed the divine king of Egypt. Why? Because “the midwives feared God.” In America today, more people fear the print, electronic and social media than fear God.
Human beings have free will. In the secular world, there is no free will because all human behavior is attributed to genes and environment. Only a religious worldview, which posits the existence of a divine soul — something independent of genes and environment — allows for free will.
Liberty. America was founded on the belief that God wants us to be free. On the Liberty Bell is inscribed just one thing (aside from the name of the company that manufactured the bell). It is a verse from the Bible: “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof.” The current assaults on personal liberty — unprecedented in American history — emanate from those who reject the Bible as their moral guide (including more than a few Jews and Christians who have joined the assault, having been indoctrinated with anti-religious views in high school and college).
When Judeo-Christian principles are abandoned, evil eventually ensues. One doesn’t have to be a believer to acknowledge this. Many secular conservatives recognize that the end of religion in the West leads to moral chaos — which is exactly what we are witnessing today and exactly what we witnessed in Europe last century. When Christianity died in Europe, we got communism, fascism and Nazism. What will we get in America if Christianity and Judeo-Christian values die?
The Biden administration on Wednesday released details of the first part of its latest enormous spending plan.
Although President Joe Biden is promoting the plan as a way to create jobs through infrastructure projects, its combination of tax hikes and central planning would leave the nation poorer and more dysfunctional.
Amazingly, this $2 trillion-plus in spending and $400 billion in tax subsidies covers only part of an increasingly radical wish list. The White House will announce details on the second part of the plan, focused on welfare programs, in a few weeks.
The government paid for the $6 trillion in combined COVID-19 relief, economic “stimulus,” and politically motivated bailouts over the past year by adding to the national debt.
In contrast, the new Biden plan uses tax hikes for businesses and investors to facilitate a big expansion of federal power.
Given that the economic recovery during the pandemic is still fragile, the last thing we need is tax increases that discourage private sector investments and make us less competitive in global markets.
The 2017 tax cuts provided enormous benefits to Americans across the income scale. Rather than continue the pro-growth success of tax reform, the Biden plan would gut it.
Instead, the plan recycles bad ideas from the Obama administration and scales them up. For instance, the plan uses 15 years of tax revenue to pay for just eight years of spending, similar to budget gimmicks that were part of Obamacare.
More importantly, the plan envisions that only a bigger federal government can solve the nation’s problems and create jobs. Yet former President Barack Obama’s 2009 “stimulus” package was a failure at creating jobs because federal infrastructure spending is slow and wasteful and serves to pull skilled workers away from private construction jobs.
Another recycled gimmick that the plan relies on is hiding opportunistic spending provisions behind a popular word.
Just a few weeks ago, Congress passed a $1.9 trillion package that lawmakers labeled “COVID-19 relief,” despite the fact that health spending accounted for less than 10%.
Now we see the word “infrastructure” deployed as a shield because most of us associate the concept with roads and bridges that we drive on every day. In reality, though, only about 5% of the Biden plan ($135 billion of the $2.25 trillion total) would go toward roads and bridges.
Instead, the plan would spend more on subsidies for electric vehicles (which benefits wealthier households), corporate welfare, and other things entirely unrelated to infrastructure such as health benefits and job training programs with a long history of failure.
On transportation, Biden’s plan follows the far-left Green New Deal by putting more of the spending increase into transportation modes such as mass transit and Amtrak than highways and bridges. This is despite the fact that transit and Amtrak already are heavily subsidized and account for a tiny share of overall travel.
Not only would this plan damage the economy and waste unimaginable amounts of taxpayer money, but it also would cause permanent damage to our democracy.
By enacting federal programs to micromanage state, local, and private sector responsibilities such as drinking water, internet, housing, school buildings, and the power grid, Washington would have too much control over too many things.
To do so at a time when the federal government is already too large for Congress to oversee, and growing faster than we can possibly afford, is a recipe for dysfunction and unaccountable governance.
Many goals of the Biden plan would be better accomplished by getting government out of the way rather than handing more power and money to Congress and federal bureaucrats.
For example, we could have better roads and bridges using existing spending by getting rid of federal red tape that makes construction projects take longer and cost more. Deregulation and further tax reforms can aid businesses and add permanent jobs throughout the country. Local reforms to boost residential development would improve housing affordability far more than hundreds of billions in federal spending.
Despite the big promises surrounding this latest multitrillion-dollar spending package, Americans should recognize that the plan would do tremendous harm to the economy and our foundational system of divided government.
Congress should avoid blindly supporting the extreme agenda that the president’s plan represents.
This scholarly work offers a comprehensive study of Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh’s vision for modernity. Photo Credit: HeymanCenter.org
(Stanford University Press, 2020)
By: Clemence Boulouque
Reviewed by: Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein
This scholarly work offers a comprehensive study of Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh’s vision for modernity. His platform calls for a Universalist reading of Judaism, but instead of the rationalist framework upon which other forms of Jewish Universalism are built, Benamozegh championed a more conservative basis for that view, drawing heavily on the traditions of Kabbalah to justify his claims. The author of this book explores what factors influenced Benamozegh’s controversial ideas, and how his thoughts have, in turn, influenced others.
In 1823, Benamozegh was born to a Moroccan family in Livorno (Leghorn), Italy. Although he received a traditional rabbinic training and even studied Kabbalah under his uncle, he was better known as an auto-didactic who was learned in several disciplines. By profession, Benamozegh was a publisher, and true to his dedication to the written word, he wrote prolifically in Hebrew, Italian, and French. With the backdrop of the Risorgimento movement that sought to unify the various Italian states as one socio-cultural polity, Benamozegh thought about the big picture and ambitiously sought to construct a theosophy that would unite all of mankind.
In the spirit of his times, Benamozegh engaged with “modernity,” which he saw as a continuation of tradition, not as a total break from tradition. More specifically, Benamozegh saw how Christianity and Islam broadcasted messages that were not only relevant to members of those faiths, but to humanity as a whole. Yet, he felt that the universalist aspects of those religions are actually borrowed from their parent religion: Judaism. In particular, he viewed Kabbalah (which literally means “tradition”) as the appropriate vehicle for leading the way to uniting all of humanity. Thus, Benamozegh dedicated himself to finding those aspects of Judaism that speak to all of mankind and highlighting their importance.
Clémence Boulouque is the Carl and Bernice Witten Assistant Professor in Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University. A published novelist and former book critic in her native France, she is the author of Another Modernity: Elia Benamozegh’s Jewish
One core principle of Benamozegh’s thought is the centrality of the Seven Noahide Laws, which are “a core set of tenets binding on all of humanity and akin to natural laws.” These laws would serve as the focal point of Benamozegh’s imagined universal religion for modernity. To sum up Benamozegh’s philosophy/theosophy, Boulouque writes: “Israel could provide both old and new foundations for the universalist religion because it contains its seeds. Judaism, thanks to the Noahide Laws, had the potential to birth the religion of the future.”
Yet, any discussion of the Noahide Laws inevitably leads to a discussion of Jewish particularism — the polar opposite of universalism — that focuses on the Jewish People’s role as the “chosen nation.” According to Jewish Tradition, while all gentiles are subject to the Seven Noahide Laws, the Jews are subject to a different set of laws, namely the 613 commandments of the Torah. This reality complicates any effort to argue for the universalist relevance of Judaism, as it gives one nation precedence over all the others. As a result of these ostensibly contradictory notions, one can detect a sort of tension in many of Benamozegh’s writings, and Boulouque devotes much space in her book to expanding on Benamozegh’s ways of alleviating this profound difficulty.
Elijah Benamozegh, sometimes Elia or Eliyahu, (born 1822; died 6 February 1900) was an Italian rabbi and a noted Kabbalist, highly respected in his day as one of Italy’s most eminent Jewish scholars. He served for half a century as rabbi of the important Jewish community of Livorno, where the Piazza Benamozegh now commemorates his name and distinction. His major work is Israel and Humanity (1863), which was translated into English by Dr. Mordechai Luria in 1995.
In a nutshell, Benamozegh’s approach to reconciling Jewish universalism with Jewish particularism postulates that the world is comprised of a “family of nation,” and just as each member of a family has different roles and responsibilities, so do the various nations of the world have different roles and responsibilities within the global community. However, unlike the other nations of the world, the Jews in particular were given extra responsibilities by Divine Revelation that demanded of them to preserve and disseminate the Seven Noahide Laws and the basics of Universal Monotheism. Boulouque shows how this seemingly modern idea is reflected in the Biblical promise to make the Jews “a kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6), which Rabbi Ovadia Sforno (a sixteenth century Italian commentator) explains as referring to the Jewish role in teaching monotheism to the nations.
Another major element of Benamozegh’s universalist writings is his focus on Adam, the first man. As the father of all of mankind, Adam was understood to represent a sort of genealogical reflection of the shared origins of all peoples. Even though Benamozegh recognizes that Jewish Tradition viewed Adam as a proto-Jew of sorts, he more broadly understood Adam as an archetypical follower of a more generic universal monotheism, of which Judaism is but one legitimate expression.
Indeed, the plurality of legitimate religious expressions is a mainstay of Benamozegh’s worldview that viewed the gods of the nations as incomplete parts of a greater truth. Through his Kabbalistic lens, those various foreign deities reflect perceived varying aspects of the One God himself, and thus contain parts of the truth, but not the whole truth. Thus, Benamozegh’s Judaism not only tolerates other religions, but even confers upon them ontological and meta-physical significance.
Benamozegh’s clearest and most complete treatment of these issues can be found in his work Israel and Humanity. Yet, a cloud of uncertainty casts its shadow over the provenance of that work, because this magnum opus remained a two-thousand page manuscript at the time of Benamozegh’s death in 1900. It was only edited and published in French fourteen years later by Benamozegh’s Christian disciple Aimé Pallèire. Some have claimed that Benamozegh’s more conciliatory and inclusive comments are actually subversive interpolations that Pallèire inserted into his mentor’s work, but that Benamozegh himself never meant to downplay the supremacy of the Jewish People and brandish a universalist world view.
However, Boulouque’s major contribution to this discussion is a close reading of Benamozegh’s original manuscript (housed in the archives of the Jewish community in Livorno) that reveals that indeed the edition published by Pallèire matches Benamozegh’s writings. This detective work clears Pallèire’s name of any impropriety and demonstrates that the posthumous Israel and Humanity truly reflects Benamozegh’s positions and teachings. [That work was also translated into Hebrew by Dr. Shimon Marcus of Mossad HaRav Kook as Yisrael VeHaEnushot].
Reuven Chaim Klein, a resident of Betar Illit in Israel is the author of several books and penned this salient review
As Boulouque adeptly demonstrates, Benamozegh’s writings were always in conversation with the other worldviews floating around in his time—whether explicitly or implicitly. These competing weltanschauung include Maimonidean-style philosophy (associated with such figures as Moses Mendelssohn and Baruch Spinoza), Christianity, Reform Judaism, and nationalism. Benamozegh engaged with the leading figures of those theosophies, sometimes strategically citing them to bolster his own arguments and sometimes rejecting their ideas when they clashed with his own. Boulouque further shows how Benamozegh’s own legacy continued to influence a wide spectrum of Jewish thinkers from the Religious-Zionist Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook on the far right to the Marxist-Kabbalist Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag on the left, as well as Christian philo-Semites and American evangelists.
In short, Clémence Boulouque offers a wide-ranging reflection and analysis of one of the most important Jewish thinkers of his time. She solidly situates Benamozegh’s ideas and importance amongst the other thinkers of the last 200 years, all the while showing how the rabbi’s words themselves can be understood and appreciated in a plurality of different ways. This scholarly and nuanced investigation into the meaning of Benamozegh’s Jewish Universalism is truly a worthy contribution towards our understanding of Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh’s multifaceted and complex thought.
Eight Paths of Purpose teaches how obstacles and/or opposition can force us to work harder and dig deeper to accomplish great things. And in fact, that a life of comfort with very few challenges can be very pleasant, but potentially less fulfilling should an easy route always be there.
By: TJVNews.com
After becoming a Rabbi at the age of 25, Tuvia Teldon believed his purpose in life was already mapped out. But his perception of purpose was shattered after his first baby, Baruch, was born with a serious case of Cystic Fibrosis.
This caused Rabbi Teldon to question, “Why Baruch? Why this family? Why me?”
After Baruch passed away at the age of 13, these questions became a 28-year journey that led Tuvia to discover the truths about purpose, and to write the book Eight Paths of Purpose to help others understand it.
Although authored by a Rabbi, the messages in Eight Paths of Purpose are universal, and written for people of all backgrounds, religions (or lack thereof), and experiences.
Rabbi Teldon says: “We all have imperfections in our life. They can be external in the form of pandemics, financial difficulties, health problems or relationship challenges. They can be internal in the form of trauma, depression, addiction, personal loss, or any of a myriad of issues which life presents us with when we least expect them. But every one of us has a unique collection of problems. Nobody in the world has the same list, and nobody looks at them the same way we do. For each of us the list is totally unique.”
In writing the book, Rabbi Teldon realized that most people don’t know how to relate to purpose, to trust it or pursue it. As he explains, “I had to translate this in a way that you would feel in your gut, that you don’t need someone to convince you but you see it as part of who you are, and what’s going on inside of you, to make the world a better place, to take resources and transform them.”
He also shares that “fulfilling our purpose should not be a means to an end of being happy.” Eight Paths of Purpose teaches that purpose is not immune to struggle and sadness; and that it will look different in everyone’s life. But what remains the same, he found, is that everyone’s purpose is somehow embedded in these eight paths:
Making the world a better place
Making the circumstances of our life better, in all their details
Procreating
Surviving
Treating the varied obstacles, conflicts and test in life as being part of our unique purpose
Improving our inner selves to be better people, with purpose-based attitudes
Seeing many of the events of our daily lives as opportunities to bring about positive change
Connecting to our higher power and/or religion to elevate ourselves and the world around us.
In writing the book, Rabbi Teldon realized that most people don’t know how to relate to purpose, to trust it or pursue it. As he explains, “I had to translate this in a way that you would feel in your gut, that you don’t need someone to convince you but you see it as part of who you are, and what’s going on inside of you, to make the world a better place, to take resources and transform them. There’s this human drive. It’s a wiring that no one else in the universe has. Humans are born without knowledge of purpose, but it whispers to us to help us do a good deed, to help our children and our grandchildren. It’s a drive that we all as human beings have and it is expressed in many different ways.”
Lessons in the book prove that we have the power to feel purpose in any situation, if we accept that they are meant to happen. “We don’t always define our purpose, but rather life defines our purpose for us.” Meaning, there will be moments where we define our purpose, but also moments where life defines it.
“For me,” Rabbi Teldon shares, “the birth and death of my son wrote a script I would have never asked for. I would gladly rewrite the script without his illness and death. However, once I knew that this is part of my custom-made list, I have to rise to the occasion and deal with it as best I can so it makes me and all around me better human beings as a result. We all have a choice – to be a victim of circumstances or a person who is able to flow with life’s curve balls and infuse purpose into the good, the bad, and even the ugly. The latter is much harder, but the sense of purpose and fulfillment one can attain, even after great pain, leads to a happiness which shines from within.”
Eight Paths of Purpose teaches how obstacles and/or opposition can force us to work harder and dig deeper to accomplish great things. And in fact, that a life of comfort with very few challenges can be very pleasant, but potentially less fulfilling should an easy route always be there.
Rabbi Tuvia Teldon and his family “Eight Paths to Purpose” Follows the Journey of Discovery for Rabbi Who Lost his Son
“We don’t know how our biography will look at the end of our life, but we do know that the way we deal with challenges will help define our accomplishments,” he explains.
While it took Teldon years to come back to reality after losing his son, he believes that his book will help all of humanity understand and benefit from and accept this purpose in their lives. “I hope it is presented in a way in which everyone can relate.”
He adds that writing the book and its acceptance has been a humbling experience, especially knowing that it has helped many people, especially during this time.
As I read the book carefully I kept reminding myself that these are not pious platitudes or sermonic hyperbole. The recipe for finding life’s meaning is the work of someone who was able to overcome horrific tragedy. Surely all of us, in the depths of our souls, feel the overpowering truth of Teldon’s recognition that “I decided if I wanted to be happy in a real way, I would have to develop it from the inside out. I had to differentiate between fun, which I enjoyed, and happiness, which takes real work. What kind of happiness fits that description? Inner happiness is a natural byproduct of a life lived with purpose. This comes from a sense of fulfillment we potentially feel whenever our life reality and/or attitude are aligned in some way with our life purpose.
Yes, as the Rabbi reminds us, Helen Keller taught us this very truth: “True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” Our mission in life? To discover our purpose and to recognize why God placed each one of us on this earth with OUR reason for being. This book will assuredly bring you nearer to finding the answer to the uniqueness of your mission.
A still from “Only Men Go to the Grave,” a film directed by Abdullah Al-Kaabi, who will be speaking during the webinar series. Photo Credit: Supplied
Edited by: TJVNews.com
Culture has a unique way of bridging cultures and nations. This is why in an effort to foster cultural exchange between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Image Nation Abu Dhabi has teamed up with the Israel Film Fund (IFF) on a series of webinars that aim to support filmmakers in both countries.
Titled “Film Exchange: Abu Dhabi–Israel,” the new series will explore critical areas within production, talent development and filming in both Abu Dhabi and Israel to encourage collaboration between Image Nation and IFF.
The first webinar will debut on March 24. It will feature industry experts spanning from the Abu Dhabi Film Commission, Israel Film Fund, the Israel Film and TV Academy as well as renowned film directors.
Those tuning in to the webinars can expect to learn about an array of different topics relating to feature film funding, such as tax rebates, film funds and opportunities for filmmakers in the two countries, among others aspects.
Speakers include Emirati filmmaker Abdullah Al-Kaabi, “City of Life” director Ali F. Mostafa and the Israeli filmmaker who gave us “The Syrian Bride,” Eran Riklis, to name a few.
“This series of webinars is a key cultural and business initiative held in partnership with the IFF,” said Michael Garin, CEO of Image Nation, in a released statement.
“We are ultimately promoting and informing audiences on the many production and investment opportunities that have resulted from the partnership between the UAE and Israel. Through collaboration on content creation, we will deepen the ties between the two countries to the benefit of the media industry in the entire region.”
Echoing on Garin’s statement, Lisa Shiloach-Uzrad, Executive Director of the Israel Film Fund, added: “We are excited to begin what we hope will be a long and fruitful relationship between Israeli and UAE filmmakers. We believe there is much that unites our two nations and are proud and happy to be the stepping stone for cultural collaboration that will bring us closer together while creating innovative and fascinating films, which is what we’re all about.”
Arab News’ Hams Saleh also reported that the 14th edition of Art Dubai — recognized as the Middle East’s leading art fair for showcasing local, regional, and international artists — is attracting art lovers in the UAE with an in-person fair set to wrap up on Saturday.
The IFF was established in 1979 in order to assist Israeli filmmakers realize their vision and talent and produce their full length feature film.
Meanwhile, Image Nation Abu Dhabi creates films, TV series, documentaries and entertainment for consumers throughout the world. It is also the first UAE company to have multiple productions stream globally on streaming giant Netflix.
Arab News’ Hams Saleh also reported that the 14th edition of Art Dubai — recognized as the Middle East’s leading art fair for showcasing local, regional, and international artists — is attracting art lovers in the UAE with an in-person fair set to wrap up on Saturday.
Among the participating galleries is Addis Fine Art gallery, which has set up a booth at the event for the fourth year.
The art hub, which is based in London and Addis Ababa, is exhibiting a group show of four artists from across Ethiopia — Tadesse Mesfin, Addis Gezehagn, Tsedaye Makonnen and Tizta Berhanu.
Each of the artists is showcasing new works that explore and document humanity’s adaptability and resilient responses to moments of upheaval.
Gallery co-founder Rakeb Sile said that Art Dubai is one of her favorites.
“It’s the only fair where we get to see galleries from pretty much the global south. It’s a really diverse encounter. Other fairs that we do are not necessarily that diverse,” she told Arab News.
She believes that putting Ethiopian artists in “that conversation is also important, because it teaches us things that we wouldn’t have necessarily found out just by doing a Western fair.”
Sile launched Addis Fine Art gallery with Mesai Haileleul as a “passion project.”
“It was like, ‘we know this is amazing; why doesn’t the rest of the world know about any of these artists?’” she said.
Haileleul elaborated on his partner’s words, saying that the art scene in Addis Ababa has “incredible talent.”
Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life (2021) Oil on canvas, 165 x 170 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Addis Fine Art. (Supplied)
“Obviously a lot of people might not be familiar with it. We do not have a lot of galleries there that function and work like Addis Fine Art gallery because it is very difficult,” he said.
“For that reason, artists do not get the representation they badly need. But it’s not for lack of talent. We are there to change that; we are there to help with that.”
Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel in “News of The World.”
And Some Movies You May Want to Avoid
By: Howard Barbanel
Although many movie theaters reopened and while there is a palpable yearning for that greasy popcorn, nachos and supersized diet coke experience, most of us are still catching our first run flicks at home. Streaming services dominate and even when fully vaccinated, many of us are not entirely comfortable venturing forth to the multiplex just yet.
There are some great movies that have been released online in the past few months with mega stars like Tom Hanks, Glenn Close, Gary Oldman and Eddie Murphy to name a few. Here is a quick guide to some of the new offerings and whether they’re worth your time, and in some cases, the extra money.
News of The World (★★★★★)
In “News of The World” Tom Hanks delivers the kind of star performance you’d expect from one of America’s most versatile and beloved actors. Have you ever seen a bad Tom Hanks movie?
Westerns are not the most popular genre of film these days. Making them so they’re not cartoonish, patronizing or condescending is no small feat. Director Paul Greengrass delivers a period piece that is true to its time and place while also packed with pathos, action and wit. “News” is probably one of the five best Westerns of all time. It’s in the same league as Clint Eastwood’s The Unforgiven (★★★★★, 1992) and the power couple of John Ford directing John Wayne in The Searchers (★★★★½, 1956). “News” shares some themes with “The Searchers,” most notably the kidnapping of a white girl by Native Americans along with the deep darkness imbuing the souls of both Wayne and Hanks’ characters as a consequence of the Civil War.
“News” is set in 1870s Texas where Hanks ekes out a living as an itinerant news reader – he buys newspapers along his travels – expensive and scarce items in the Old West – and he curates and delivers the news in public readings to paying audiences in towns small and large across the prairie. Hanks is running away from heartache, his past and battle-related PTSD. Redemption comes in the character of Johanna Leonberger who was kidnapped by Kiowa Indians as a young child and needs to be returned to her next of kin clear across Texas. Hanks’ character, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, is reluctantly impressed into the service of escorting Johanna to her family and therein lies the drama and adventure of the film as they traverse the Wild West. Johanna is played by 12-year-old Helena Zengel in a tour de force performance where she holds her weight alongside Hanks in most of the movie.
If you can see this in a theater by all means do – but – it’s equally worth watching on your home 42, 55 or 60-inch TV as well. Streaming on Prime.
Hillbilly Elegy (★★★★)
Many Americans comfortably ensconced in their affluent bubbles have no idea of the struggles, poverty, desperation and addiction which besets many to this day in “Flyover Country” and most particularly in Appalachia. This region stretching from Pennsylvania to Georgia has borne the brunt of the Opioid Crisis but even before that alcoholism and other substance abuse was rife.
Glenn Close and Amy Adams in Hillbilly Elegy
“Elegy” is the autobiographical drama about a young J.D. Vance, growing up with a seriously defective mother in a death spiral of privation and addiction. Our hero manages to overcome extreme poverty and a plethora of disadvantages to become a Yale-trained lawyer who wrote a bestselling book from which this movie is based. Vance’s salvation was made possible through the intervention of his maternal grandmother, played powerfully by Glenn Close in the role of “Mamaw,” who rescues him from the depredations of his addict mother (played very unglamorously and convincingly by Amy Adams).
Most of the action takes place in Rust Belt Ohio and Kentucky with lots of flashbacks to our hero’s childhood and adolescence. To say that Glenn Close embodies the role of a grizzled character is an understatement. This is not the beautiful Glenn Close we saw in Fatal Attraction (★★★★, 1987) or The Natural (★★★★★, 1984). You totally believe in her as a struggling grandmother. No end of common-sense grit and self-sacrifice. This is no light movie but it is highly inspiring and there is also a happy ending. This film may also remind you of the Tobias Wolff biopic This Boy’s Life (★★★★, 1993) starring Robert DeNiro, Ellen Barkin and a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Streaming on Netflix.
Coming 2 America (★★)
They say some wines get better with age and some after too many years become vinegar and undrinkable. So is the case with the 33-year delay from Eddie Murphy’s hysterical Coming to America (★★★★, 1988) and this cringe-worthy sequel. No matter the return of the original cast plus great additional cameos. No matter Murphy and his sidekick Arsenio Hall playing a dozen different characters. No matter the lavish sets and costumes. The story is flimsy and completely non-credible even for a comedy farce. The writing is dismal, so much so that you’d be hard pressed to find more than two really good jokes in the whole film. A comedy that’s not very funny. Really? Really. How a comedic talent like Murphy didn’t see the lack of humor in this film is astonishing.
Eddie Murphy and Wesley Snipes in “Coming 2 America.”
The only saving grace and bright spot here is Wesley Snipes as General Izzi, warlord of neighboring African nation Nexdoria (as in “next door”). As Izzi, Snipes dominates the screen and brings 90 percent of the charisma. Izzi is an exaggerated hip-hopped-up Idi Amin-like tinhorn dictator full of outrageous bellicosity accompanied by a praetorian guard of exceptional street dancers who intimidate merely by virtue of their excellent choreography. The movie gets two stars thanks in great measure to Snipes.
The black stereotypes in “Coming 2 America” if they’d been produced by and starring whites would be viewed as highly offensive. In fact, if I were black, I would be very put-off by some of the visuals which in many cases cross a line to tastelessness. Streaming on Prime.
Mank ★★★★
Herman J. Mankiewicz (or as his friends called him, “Mank”) was a brilliant Hollywood screenwriter during the studio heyday of the 1930s. He was also intemperate, constantly inebriated and often impertinent. A real character. So why a movie about him? Because he was the unsung and real literary genius behind one of the best movies ever made, Citizen Kane (★★★★★, 1941) directed by and starring the then 24-year-old wunderkind Orson Welles.
Gary Oldman as “Mank.”
Welles hired the fading Mankiewicz (portrayed masterfully by Gary Oldman, who is 62 and playing someone three decades younger) to ghost-write the screenplay for his first big Hollywood outing. The drama here is the torturous road from concept to actual script; the efforts made by William Randolph Hearst and his media empire to have the film shelved or not made at all and the tension between Mank and Welles when Mankiewicz realizes it’s the best thing he’s ever written and wants screen credit for it. In between are flashbacks to Mank’s life in New York and California and his relationships with Hearst, his then wife Marion Davies (played by an increasingly impressive Amanda Seyfried), studio honcho L.B. Mayer (MGM) and other Hollywood swells. In the middle of the bio sandwich is the relationship with his own long-suffering wife.
Laid-up in bed due to a car accident, an ailing Mank is shuttled to the California desert with a nurse, secretary and prodding producer and told to write the script via dictation which we saw Oldman do frequently while playing Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour (★★★★½, 2017). With the help of this entourage and an unhealthy supply of smuggled booze, Mank turns out one of the best screenplays of all time. In the process he makes enemies of and alienates almost everyone in his life. This is a very grown-up movie that will leave you contemplating the nature and scope of power, ambition, talent and waste (as in much of Mank’s life). Streaming on Netflix.
Wonder Woman 1984 ★★★
In 2017 director Patty Jenkins surprised us all with a superhero movie that was original, fantastic yet believable, well-acted, well-cast, well-written and that had heart and humor. That movie is Wonder Woman (★★★★, 2017). Gal Gadot was a delight as the fierce but incredibly naïve Amazon warrior and Chris Pine was adorable as Steve Trevor. The supporting cast was endlessly interesting and funny and the setting, World War I, was rendered with verisimilitude so that you bought into that reality.
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman
For a second act, instead of perhaps setting the film during World War II, Jenkins opted to make a giant leap forward in years to 1984 (a big jump from 1918) where we’re supposed to believe that Diana a/k/a Wonder Woman has for decades been living a life of quiet desperation and solitude pining away for the late Steve Trevor while occasionally doing some rote super hero stuff like rounding up criminals. In “WW84,” the fate of the world hinges on defeating a deranged megalomanic businessman who steals an ancient artifact with magic powers to grant wishes (I’m over simplifying) which ultimately creates world wide chaos. Somehow Steve Trevor is brought back from the dead because Diana wished for him (as did the producers so the two can recreate their prior on-screen chemistry).
The world of 1984 is not reproduced as convincingly as was 1918 or as well as the 1950s were in Back to The Future (★★★★½, 1985) and the premise or nemeses of loneliness, unrequited love and success don’t carry as much weight as defeating the Germans and the god Aries on the Western Front. “WW84” is so much of a sequel that one really must watch the 2017 original in order to know much of the back story which limits the audience. Another drawback is the length of the film which at two hours and 30 minutes really is a half hour to 40 minutes too long. Many of the scenes of Diana as a child on Paradise Island could have been edited out to make the movie tauter. The film is worth seeing and you will be entertained, but better to see it with your own pause button at home than to invest 150 minutes in a theater. Streaming on Prime and other services.
Manya Bigunov was born in 1927 in the Ukrainian city of Teplyk, the youngest of Nahum and Frima’s three children.
By: VIN Staff
April 8th marks Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel, which will be commemorating 80 years since the beginning of the mass exterminations. Six torchbearers have been chosen to light flames at Yad Vashem. Here are some of their stories:-
Manya Bigunov
Manya Bigunov was born in 1927 in the Ukrainian city of Teplyk, the youngest of Nahum and Frima’s three children.
In June 1941, immediately after their invasion of the Soviet Union, the Germans began shooting hundreds of thousands of Jews at hundreds of murder sites. In July, the Germans occupied Teplyk, and sent residents from the city to forced labor, including Manya and her mother. On 27 May 1942, the Germans rounded up some of the camp workers, including Manya and her mother, and began loading them onto trucks. After Frima was placed on a truck, one of the Germans slammed Manya against a wall and she lost consciousness, remaining motionless on the ground. The trucks drove to the nearby forest, where all the Jews on the trucks were unloaded and shot to death, including Frima.
After she regained consciousness, Manya was transferred to different labor camps. She escaped from one of the camps with her friend Esther, and they returned to Teplyk. There Manya found her father among a group of Jewish professionals who were being held by the Germans for work purposes. The group paid a local man to lead Manya and her friend to the Bershad ghetto in Transnistria, where they arrived in September 1942. In the ghetto, they had to cope with harsh living conditions, hunger and cold. In the winter, Manya fell ill with typhus. In 1943, Nahum came to the ghetto, but died of illness in February 1944, three weeks before the area was liberated by the Red Army.
Following liberation, Manya returned to Teplyk, where she was reunited with her brother and sister. Manya married Naftoli Bigun, who served in the Red Army and survived in POW camps by concealing his Jewish identity. When Naftoli returned from captivity, he was imprisoned by the Soviets, former prisoners being considered traitors by the Soviet regime. It was not until 1954, after Stalin’s death, that Naftoli was released, but he died in 1961 at the age of 39. Manya worked as a nurse in a hospital, raising her daughter Edit alone.
After the war, Manya worked tirelessly to preserve the memory of the Jews of Teplyk who were murdered in the Holocaust. She immediately began to write about the experiences of her Jewish community. She described every house where Jews lived before the war, and wrote down the names and stories of all the Jewish occupants of each house, and if they survived, their experiences after the war. The information, including a diagram of the town, was transferred to the Yad Vashem Archives. Manya filled dozens of Pages of Testimony commemorating the people of Teplyk. She wrote articles about her community, and published them in the Russian press. She was also active in a group that erected a monument to the Jews of Teplyk and held memorial ceremonies there.
In 1992, Manya immigrated to Israel with her daughter and two granddaughters. Manya Bigunov has told her story to thousands of schoolchildren, students and teachers.
Yossi Chen
Yossi Chen was born in 1936 in the town of Łachwa, Poland (now Lakhva, Belarus), the eldest son of Dov Berl and Chaya Sara Chinitz.
Yossi Chen was born in 1936 in the town of Łachwa, Poland (now Lakhva, Belarus), the eldest son of Dov Berl and Chaya Sara Chinitz. In July 1941, the Germans occupied Łachwa and on Passover eve 1942, all the town’s Jews were ordered to move into the ghetto. Many of the ghetto’s inmates, including Yossi’s grandmother, died of starvation, overcrowding and epidemics.
In August 1942, the Jews in the ghetto learned of the liquidation of nearby ghettos and the use of ghetto laborers to dig pits near the town. Rumors circulated that the ghetto residents were about to be murdered. Earlier, the ghetto youths had organized an underground, with the knowledge and support of the Judenrat [ghetto Jewish council].
When the ghetto inhabitants were rounded up to be taken for execution, an uprising broke out during which the Judenrat called on the ghetto Jews to flee to the forests. This was one of the only uprisings in the history of the Holocaust carried out by the young people of the community in full cooperation with the Judenrat. The majority of the thousand Jews who tried to flee were shot and killed. Amid the tumult of the shooting and the inferno, six-year-old Yossi fled to the forests. “Thanks to that revolt, I am alive today,” says Yossi.
Yossi’s mother and younger brother Moshe were caught and murdered. Yossi became separated from his father and escaped alone into the swamps. After about an hour, he found his uncle, Hersh Leib. The next day, the two found Dov Berl. They forced their way through the swamps in an attempt to reach the partisans. Suddenly they heard a shot, and Hersh Leib let go of Yossi’s hand. It was the worst moment Yossi remembers: His uncle had been murdered by a Pole who ambushed the fugitives in order to rob them.
Yossi and his father hid in haystacks, swamps and forests, drank water from pits and swamps and ate berries until they found the partisans and joined them.
At the end of 1943, the Germans and their aides launched a manhunt for the partisans. Yossi and Dov Berl moved around on foot and in sledges in the forests of Belarus, hungry and frozen. They improvised shoes from cowhide straps, and garments from pieces of coarse cloth. When Yossi fell ill, he was put on a sledge, wrapped in rags and piles of snow to keep his body warm, and given spoons of soup until he recovered.
When he was strong enough, Yossi was instructed to obtain food from the farmers in the area. He excelled in navigating and orienting himself in the forests, and even helped older people reach their destinations. Several times he encountered the Germans, but always managed to escape. “We were like cockroaches running away from place to place,” remembers Yossi.
In July 1944, Yossi and Dov Berl were liberated by the Red Army. They moved west to the DP camps. In July 1947, the two boarded the Exodus illegal immigrant ship, but the British detained the ship and the passengers were rerouted to Europe and forcibly unloaded at the port of Hamburg in Germany. In August 1948, Yossi and Dov Berl immigrated to Israel.
Yossi was a senior commander in the IDF’s intelligence unit and worked for the Mossad. He wrote a study on the activities of the Mossad in pursuing Nazi War Criminals, of which only a part was allowed to be published.
Yossi and Nechama have three daughters and nine grandchildren.
The Torah writes: “And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Shabbat, from the day that you bring the omer [offering] that is raised, seven complete weeks there shall be until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count fifty days (Leviticus 23:15-16).
The Torah writes: “And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Shabbat, from the day that you bring the omer [offering] that is raised, seven complete weeks there shall be until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count fifty days (Leviticus 23:15-16).
These verses command us to count seven weeks from the time that the omer, the new barley offering, was brought in the Temple, i.e., from the sixteenth of Nissan. We begin our count on the second night of Passover (the night of the second Seder in the Diaspora) and continue until Shavuot, which is the fiftieth day after the offering.
We actually count forty-nine days, for our Sages had a tradition that the Torah’s use of the word fifty meant until the fiftieth day.
It is a mitzvah for each individual to count the days of the omer by himself, for the Torah states: And you shall count for yourselves. This mitzvah is applicable today even though the Holy Temple no longer stands and we no longer bring the omer offering. Some maintain that the obligation today is Rabbinic.
Between the holidays of Passover and Shavuot, the Omer is counted each evening, signifying our preparation for the receiving of the Torah on the holiday of Shavuot
When to Count the Omer
The correct time for counting the omer is at the beginning of the night, for the verse states that we are to count seven complete weeks and the count can be complete only if we commence when the sixteenth of Nissan begins.
Since we commence counting the omer at night, we continue to count at night throughout the entire forty-nine days.
We first recite the evening prayers, for the mitzvah of Ma’ariv and of saying the Shema is obligatory every day and a mitzvah that is frequently obligatory takes precedence over a mitzvah that is performed less often.
Immediately after the Amidah, we count the omer. If one neglected to count then, he may count throughout the night; and if he forgot to count at night, he may count during the day, but without the blessing.
How to Count the Omer
We first recite the blessing on counting the omer “Who has commanded us to count the omer”] and then count, saying: “Today is the… day of the omer” Some congregations have a custom of saying baomer, in the omer, while others have a custom of saying laomer, of the omer. On the first night one says: “Today is one day of the omer” and on the second night one says: “Today is two days of the omer”
This practice is followed until the seventh day, when we make a slight change and say: “Today is seven days which is one week of the omer”.
Congregations that follow the Sephardic rite say: “Today is the seventh day of the omer which is one week”; i.e., the word omer is always juxtaposed to the number of the day rather than to the concurrent count of weeks.
From the seventh day on, one adds the count of weeks to the count of days; e.g., “Today is eight days which is one week and one day of the omer” and the Sephardic wording is “… eight days of the omer which is one week and one day.”
If one made a mistake and neglected to count either the days or the weeks, he must count again but does not recite another blessing..
When counting, one should be careful to use the correct grammatical form (e.g., using the word yamim, days, until ten and then yom from that point on, and using the masculine form for the count of the weeks].
The blessing and the counting should be said while standing, for the verse (Deuteronomy 16:9) states: When the grain is standing in the fields. But if one sat while counting, he has nevertheless fulfilled the obligation.
After counting the omer, it is customary to say: “May it be Your will that that the Beit haMikdash be rebuilt speedily in our days.”
Chabad app for counting the Omer. The correct time for counting the omer is at the beginning of the night, for the verse states that we are to count seven complete weeks and the count can be complete only if we commence when the sixteenth of Nissan begins.
More Details Regarding Sefirat HaOmer
The count is to be made at the beginning of the night, i.e., as soon as three stars appear. If one counted earlier [but after sunset], he is not required to count again, but nevertheless it is proper to do so, albeit without a blessing, after the appearance of the stars.
If one is asked what is the proper count for that night: If the person being asked has not yet counted himself, he should not say the number of that night for he will in effect have counted the omer without saying a blessing and he will be unable to count again with a blessing.
Rather, he should say: “Last night was such and such.” One should be especially careful on Lag baOmer, the thirty third night of the omer, for it is quite common to refer to that day by its number.
Before reciting the blessing one should know the number of the day. However, if one recited the blessing without being aware of the number and added the number only after having heard it said by someone else, he has fulfilled the obligation.
If one thought that he knew the number of the day when he recited the blessing but realized that he was mistaken after hearing it said by others, he may still count and need not repeat the blessing.
If he recited the blessing and then counted the wrong number: If he remembered within about 18 seconds and he did not say anything else before realizing his mistake, he may count the proper number without repeating the blessing. And if not, it is considered as if he has not counted, and he recites the blessing and counts anew.
If he neglected to count one day [i.e., both at night and on the following day], or if he counted the wrong number, he may no longer recite a blessing when he subsequently counts but he must nevertheless continue to count. However, if he does not remember whether he counted or not, he may continue to count the remaining days of the omer with a blessing.
It is customary that following the counting of the omer, one recites Psalm 67, for according to tradition that psalm has forty nine words, corresponding to the days of the omer
In the Diaspora, where a second Seder is conducted on the night of the sixteenth of Nissan, some have the custom to count the omer at the end of the Seder. Were we to count before the Seder, we would declare the day as the sixteenth of Nissan, and the second Seder, which is held because of a doubt that the date might really be the fifteenth, would seem to be superfluous.
It is customary among the pious and righteous to read the Torah portion which deals with the omer, at the conclusion of the Seder, in Eretz Yisrael, and at the conclusion of the second Seder in the Diaspora.
By reading the portion, it is as if we were fulfilling the obligation of bringing the offering, as per the Sages’ dictum that “our lips are our service.” In many Sephardic communities in Israel, it is customary to read this portion before the first counting of the omer.
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire in it, and put incense in it, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He commanded them not. And a fire went out from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.”
By: Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
It was a brief but powerful lesson, and I learned it from a recovering drug addict. He was telling his story to an audience of rabbis who were there to learn about substance abuse.
Treatment for addictions involves being in a process of recovery for quite some time. This fellow maintained, and many experts agree, that an addict seeking cure must commit to being “in recovery” as a life-long process.
He had a lot to say about religion. He was especially interested in the distinction between religion and spirituality. Here is how he expressed that difference:
“Religion is for people who are afraid to go to hell. Spirituality is for people who have been there.”
His message struck a chord within me. I had long pondered the concepts of “religion” and “spirituality.” I once believed that the two terms were virtually synonymous. After all, weren’t all religious people also spiritual? And where else besides religion could one find spirituality?
But I have long since become disabused of that naïve belief. Over the years, I have seen many Jews go through the motions of religious observance with neither emotion nor conviction. On the other hand, I have come to see individuals of no particular religious faith—and indeed some who are confirmed atheists—who, nonetheless, have profound spiritual sensitivities.
It was because of my personal confusion about the relationship between religion and spirituality that the ex-addict’s remark struck me as worthy of further contemplation. That was why I invited him to join me in my own addictive substance, coffee, after his talk.
My new friend’s distinction between religion and spirituality was based upon his theory of human nature. He had not come by this theory in a book he read or a course he took. He formulated it on the basis of his traumatic real life experiences.
“People,” he said, “require a feeling of connectedness to a Higher Being. That’s ‘spirituality.’ But it is just a feeling. A good feeling, to be sure—a high. For me, drugs helped me achieve that feeling, but I needed to learn to achieve it elsewhere.”
He quickly went on to explain the other half of his theory: “But just feeling is not enough. There needs to be some structure, some framework, and some guidelines. It can’t all be just good feelings. That’s where religion comes in. It provides the context within which the feelings can be contained, nurtured and expanded.”
I told him that I had to put his idea into my own private context. I immediately found myself drawing from a biblical source. Wouldn’t you know that the source that came to mind was a passage in this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Shemini (Leviticus 9:1-11:47)!
There, we find the following passage:
“…and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed the burnt-offering and the fat upon the altar; which, when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire in it, and put incense in it, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He commanded them not. And a fire went out from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.”
I shared this brief biblical narrative with my new friend, and I used his terminology to explain it:
“The procedure prescribed by God for sacrificial offerings is what you are calling ‘religion.’ There are ways to do it, and ways not to do it. Nadab and Abihu were caught up in what you call ‘spirituality,’ the ecstasy of the moment. They wanted to draw close to God. But they wanted to do it their way, with their own fire. But that was ‘a strange fire.’ He, God, had not commanded it, and that rendered it illegitimate—fatally illegitimate.”
“I remember the story, but never quite understood it,” he admitted. “Now I can relate it very well to a drug-induced ‘high.’ You see, when you’re on a high, you want it as your own. There is a powerful drive in you that seeks autonomy. Uncontrolled, that can be fatal. At some point, that drive has to be reined in. It needs discipline. That’s where religion comes in.”
I asked my new friend if he was ready for some more “religion,” some words from the Rabbis. When he consented, I informed him that the Rabbis suggest quite a few reasons for the horrible punishment suffered by Nadab and Abihu. Although the Torah clearly identifies their sin as doing something which God had not commanded, the Rabbis find other factors which caused them to act the way they did.
He was curious and asked, “What are some of those factors?”
“For one thing,” I explained, “the Rabbis accused Nadab and Abihu of entering the sacred precincts of the Tabernacle having excessively indulged in wine. They were inebriated. This suggested that their ‘spirituality’ was artificially induced and, thus, inauthentic.”
“Others maintain,” I continued, “that they were disrespectful toward Moses by not consulting with him regarding the proper sacrificial procedure. Some Rabbis even suggest that they envied Moses’ and Aaron’s lofty positions and secretly prayed for the time when they would inherit those positions of power and glory.”
“Wow,” he exclaimed. “That fits with the anti-authoritarian sentiments of so many who are hooked on pure spirituality. Their motto is, ‘Down with authority. Let us take over!’ Tell me, do the Rabbis have any other suggestions about what might lie behind this raw, unbridled ‘spirituality.’
“Indeed, they do,” I responded. “They suggest that Nadab and Abihu weren’t wearing the proper priestly garments when they performed their incense offering.”
He looked puzzled. He couldn’t connect this particular flaw to his own experience. So I gave him my take on the significance of their failure to don the proper “uniform.”
“The priestly robes are described as ‘garments of honor and glory.’ You cannot just approach God in your jeans and sweatshirt. Doing so demonstrates a feeling of familiarity with Him, which is inappropriate. God is not your pal. Approaching him calls for reverence, and the priestly clothing attest to that reverence. With them, your actions are sacred and inspired, truly spiritual. Without them, you’re on a ‘trip’ with a buddy; you’re not in the presence of the Higher Being with whom you strongly desire a deep connection.”
The discussion that evening ended with a disagreement:
“Rabbi, you taught me so much tonight. You encouraged me to connect the dots between my admittedly unhealthy experience and Jewish teachings. I owe you a debt of gratitude.”
I disagreed. “No, I owe you a debt of gratitude. You forced me to realize that ‘spirituality’ and ‘religion’ are not one and the same. They are both essential for a fully religious experience.”
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is the Executive Vice President, Emeritus of the Orthodox Union. Rabbi Weinreb’s newly released Person in the Parasha: Discovering the Human Element In the Weekly Torah Portion, co-published by OU Press and Maggid Books, contains a compilation of Rabbi Weinreb’s weekly Person in the Parsha column. For more information about his book, go to https://www.ou.org/oupress/product/the-person-in-the-parasha/. For other articles and essays by Rabbi Weinreb, go to http://www.ou.org/torah/parsha-series/rabbi-weinreb-on-parsha.
An artist’s rendition of Aharon, the high priest. Aaron’s faith in justice of G-d and in the eternity of the soul was so powerful, so all encompassing, that he was totally at peace with G-d’s Will, even in his heart- Thus Vayidom.
By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis
On the very day that the dedication of the Temple took place, Nadav and Avihu, the two noble sons of Aaron the High Priest, suddenly perished. The Torah describes the reaction of Aaron simply as “Vayidom Aaron” – meaning that Aaron remained silent. The term which is normally used for silence is Vayishtak, the Torah however, chooses the word Vayidom, which means an inanimate object, to teach us that although we are often able to control our emotions, our facial expressions betray our feelings. Aaron’s faith in justice of G-d and in the eternity of the soul was so powerful, so all encompassing, that he was totally at peace with G-d’s Will, even in his heart- Thus Vayidom. But the question still remains–Why did this terrible calamity befall Aaron’s two sons?
The explanation that the Torah offers is that they (the two sons) brought an alien fire before HaShem that He had not commanded…” (Leviticus 10:1)
The strength of our people, our ability to have survived the centuries can be found in the fact that we never deviated from our Divine Commandments. While Nadav and Abihu were most sincere in their desire to serve G-d, they nevertheless desired to do so in their own way and bring their own fire rather than the one proscribed by our Torah. Through their tragic deaths, the Torah warns us of the terrible consequences that can result from departing from G-d’s commandments. No matter how lofty our intentions may be, if our service does not conform to G-d’s Will, it is unacceptable. Our G-d is One, our Torah is One, and our worship must mirror that one-ness. It cannot be based upon our personal needs or emotions.
This teaching is of special significance to our generation. In our egalitarian society, we have come to believe that we have the right to fashion our own mode of worship, to contrive our own rituals and to author our own ceremonies. We have come to believe that our sincerity makes everything right. But if our service does not reflect G-d’s Will, we are worshipping ourselves and not our Heavenly Father, Had our ancestors fashioned their own mode of worship, there would, G-d forbid, have been no faith for us to inherit. The strength of our people is to be found precisely in the fact that the very same fire that illuminated our souls at Mt. Sinai continues to shed light for us today.
Very often, people say. “If you can give me a good reason why I should keep the commandments, I’ll consider it” What better reason can there be but that G-d commanded them? In these most trying times for our nation, for our brethren in Israel, let us commit to take upon ourselves our commandments as proclaimed at Sinai.
PIRKEI AVOS–ETHICS OF THE FATHERS
From the first Sabbath after Pesach and throughout the summer months, until the Sabbath before Shavuos, we study one of the six chapters of “Ethics of the Fathers”. Since there are six Sabbaths between Pesach and Shavuos, we complete the first cycle before the holiday of Shavuos, thereby affirming the principle “Derech eretz kadmoh l’Torah” – meaning, proper ethical behavior is a prerequisite to Torah study.
Seat cover on the first Etihad Airlines scheduled flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, April 6, 2021. (Twitter)
Airliner with VIPs arrives at Ben Gurion Airport, UAE Ambassador hails the new service as a sign of growing peace.
By: Paul Shindman
The first commercial passenger Arab airline flight from Abu Dhabi to Israel landed in Tel Aviv Tuesday with Etihad Airways flight flight 598 making its historic touch down at Ben Gurion International Airport.
Etihad has flown several test flights to Israel in the past year including two cargo flights with coronavirus relief supplies for the Palestinians, but Tuesday’s flight marked the inauguration of Etihad’s regular service between the two countries.
The flight carried several VIPs including Mohamed Al Khaja, the UAE’s first ambassador to Israel, Eitan Na’eh, head of mission at the Embassy of Israel in Abu Dhabi, and Tony Douglas, chief executive of Etihad Airways, the UAE newspaper The National reported, adding that all passengers and crew had been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“I am overwhelmed by emotions while on board the first flight inaugurated by the UAE’s Etihad Airways between Abu Dhabi and Israel. This is an additional historical separation in the web of the growing relations between the two countries,” Na’eh tweeted in Arabic.
“Today marks the inaugural flight of Etihad Airways from our beloved capital, Abu Dhabi, to Tel Aviv, the flight on which I have arrived to begin my duties as the first ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the state of Israel,” Al Khaja said.
“Since the signing of the Abraham Accords between the UAE and Israel last summer, the two countries have worked together to embark upon a new and dynamic era of cooperation,” Al Khaja said. “Israel and the UAE have moved swiftly to make the bold vision that first underpinned the accords a reality.”
“As we move beyond the COVID-19 pandemic there will be plenty of reasons to visit us in the UAE,” the ambassador said. “We look forward to welcoming Israelis with true Emirati friendship and hospitality … today, we share a commitment to building a warm peace.”
Al Khaja finished his comments by saying in Hebrew “I am happy to be here.”
Etihad will operate twice-weekly flights using Boeing 787 aircraft and will expand that to seven flights a week beginning in June, the website SimplyFlying reported. Along with Etihad and El Al, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi will also begin regular service between Tel Aviv and the UAE later this month and also plans to ramp up to seven weekly flights by the summer. Al Khaja noted that Emirates Airlines and Air Dubai will also start flights to Tel Aviv in the near future.
“In a year that’s seen tourism crippled and the aviation industry face its biggest ever crisis, it’s nice to see history being made this morning,” tweeted The National travel reporter Hayley Scottie, who was on the flight.
Etihad is the second flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates and its head office is in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, in close proximity to Abu Dhabi International Airport. Etihad commenced operations in November 2003. Wikipedia reported that the airline operates more than 1,000 flights per week to over 120 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America, with a fleet of 102 Airbus and Boeing aircraft as of February 2020. In 2015, Etihad carried 14.8 million passengers, a 22.3% increase from the previous year, delivering revenues of $9.02 billion and net profits of $103 million.
Moreover, Wikipedia reported that in addition to its core activity of passenger transportation, Etihad also operates Etihad Holidays and Etihad Cargo.
Ravi Bhalla, mayor of Hoboken, N.J., joins Rabbi Moshe Schapiro of Chabad of Hoboken and Jersey City in placing coins in a charity box known as the ARK on Education and Sharing Day in Hoboken, N.J.
From the White House to small town America, the country unites in honoring the Rebbe
By: Tzemach Feller
After a year in which schools were shuttered for long months and education faced profound setbacks, dozens of cities and counties, nearly every state as well as the White House have united today in proclaiming Education and Sharing Day, a day focused on the higher purpose of education: building students’ character and emphasizing moral and ethical values. These values were consistently promoted by the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. Recognizing the Rebbe’s profound contributions towards the advancement of promoting moral and ethical education, every president since Jimmy Carter in 1978 has proclaimed the date of the Rebbe’s birth—11 Nissan, this year March 24—to be Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A.
Rep. Carlton Wing holds up a charity box, known as an ARK, in the Arkansas House of Representatives
In his proclamation for Education and Sharing Day, 2021, President Joe Biden focused on the significance of the day after a year of pain and loss. “If the isolation and loss of the last year has taught us anything, it is just how much we need each other, how intertwined our lives are, and how deeply we crave conversation, connection, and community. We are at our best when we work together and help our neighbors, whether down the road or around the world.”
“This lesson is at the heart of Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A., when we celebrate the role models, mentors, and leaders who devote themselves to the progress and success of each new generation, to reinforcing our common bonds, and to lifting up our highest ideals. Today, we mark the legacy of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, a guiding light of the international Chabad-Lubavitch movement and a testament to the power and resilience of the human spirit.”
Richard David, the mayor of Binghamton, N.Y., presents the city’s Education and Sharing Day proclamation to Rabbi Aaron Slonim, executive director of Chabad of Binghamton. (Credit: Megan J. Brockett)
“This initiative has been supported annually by every President since Jimmy Carter, and underscores the importance of inculcating our young people with good education and values,” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) Washington, D.C., told Chabad.org. “Thankfully, this initiative has transcended partisanship for decades, and allowed leaders from across the political spectrum to help further the Rebbe’s passionate vision and hope for the betterment of society.”
Shemtov annually coordinates Education Day proclamations across the country together with his father, Rabbi Avraham Shemtov, national director of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) and chairman of Agudas Chasidei Chabad—the umbrella organization of Chabad-Lubavitch—who coordinated the activities surrounding the very first Education Day celebration in Washington, D.C., back in 1978.
Re-Energizing Education After the Pandemic
President Joe Biden’s proclamation was echoed throughout the country, as nearly all 50 states issued proclamations of their own, and scores of municipalities did the same. From Chicago, Ill.; Orlando, Fla.; and Newark, N.J., to Kauai, Hawaii; Vacaville, Calif.; and Altoona, Pa., local governments recognized the Rebbe’s message: that education should not merely focus on the acquisition of knowledge and preparation for a career, but that it focus on building character and inculcating values of morality, ethics and charity.
It’s a message that rings truer than ever following the devastation that the pandemic wrought on education throughout the United States and around the world.
Charlotte Craven, the mayor of Camarillo, Calif., poses with Rabbi Aryeh Lang, who directs Chabad of Camarillo, at an Education and Sharing Day 2021 proclamation ceremony on the grounds of Gan Camarillo, a local preschool under the auspices of the Chabad center.
“There is a concern about the learning loss that children are experiencing due to the remote nature of education this year,” Dr. Ashley Berner, director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and an associate professor at Johns Hopkins School of Education told Chabad.org. “Not only in this country but worldwide there is a learning loss, particularly for low-income children, that may endure for a generation.”
State Leaders Give Tribute to the Rebbe
Reflecting on the urgency the pandemic has brought to re-energizing and promoting education, governors from Minnesota to Texas and from California to New Hampshire proclaimed Education and Sharing Day in their respective states. Recognizing that the pandemic has “disrupted the continuity and traditional models of education across our nation and around the world,” wrote Hawaii Gov. David Ige in his state’s proclamation, “has yielded opportunities for educators to adopt new teaching and learning methods, skills and technologies and focus on character development, self-empowerment and well-being of self and community.” At the same time governors such as Delaware’s John C. Carney have urged local citizens to “reach out to those within your communities and work to create a better, brighter and more hopeful future for us all,” as the Delaware state Education Day proclamation stated.
A Global Initiative to Become Givers
On house and senate floors in state capitols, elected officials paid tribute to the Rebbe’s teachings and vision and rededicated themselves and their constituencies to the ideals of morality, ethics and charity. In the Arkansas House of Representatives, charity boxes and accompanying cards had been placed on each representative’s desk.
The charity boxes—known as ARKs for the acronym of “Acts of Random Kindness” or “Acts of Routine Kindness”—also graced the desks in the Texas House of Representatives, part of a global initiative to train people to be givers.
“There is perhaps no greater way of observing Education and Sharing Day than by making giving a habit in our everyday lives,” said Texas House Speaker Pro Tempore Joe Moody, “thereby transforming acts of random kindness into acts of routine kindness.”
“The card is in recognition of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson—who’s affectionately known as the Rebbe—the most influential rabbi in modern history,” said Arkansas Rep. Carlton Wing. “It is his work that has spanned the globe and affected the lives of many.”
“The Rebbe emphasized that the building of character with moral and ethical values as the foundation of a true education is essential,” Wing added. “It accentuates the importance of teaching principled and just behavior and personal responsibility for the betterment of society.”
Idaho Gov. Brad Little (center) poses with Rabbi Mendel Lifshitz (second from right) who directs Chabad of Idaho, as well as several local community members at the signing ceremony of the State of Idaho’s Education and Sharing Day Proclamation on March 24, 2021. (Credit: Dan Berger)
“The Governors of the state of Arkansas have been very supportive of this campaign,” said Rabbi Pinchus Ciment, who directs Lubavitch of Arkansas. “This year, the State Senate and House have joined as well to further promote this day. As awareness has grown, appreciation for the importance of this issue continues to gain more support.”
“Pointing students to the beliefs and systems that call us to something greater than the self is really important,” said Berner of Johns Hopkins. “It’s impossible to avoid ethics, because we answer ethical questions in our every behavior, and it’s impossible to construct a school without referencing some type of moral values.”
Building Character, One City at a Time
Education Day isn’t limited to state capitals and the federal government. In scores of cities across the United States—both large and small—mayors, city councils, county commissioners and town supervisors put pen to paper to promote education and sharing on the Rebbe’s date of birth.
In El Paso, Texas, Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Levi Greenberg emphasized the need to teach young people kindness and unity, recalling in particular the horrific shooting that took place in his hometown in 2019.
“Less than two years ago, El Paso experienced one of the worst mass shootings in our nation’s history, caused by a young man consumed with hatred. We strive to be an example of how to respond to such evil by increasing light and encouraging unity among all people,” Greenberg told Chabad.org. “Education and Sharing Day emphasizes our ability and obligation to nurture compassion, empathy and love in our young ones.”
In Vacaville, Calif., Rabbi Chaim Zaklos, who directs Chabad of Solano County, said the day is a reminder of the tremendous and ongoing affect the Rebbe continues to have on the city.
“The Rebbe’s clarion call is the driving force behind countless social, educational and religious efforts that have changed our community,” said Zaklos. “It is only appropriate that on his birthday all of us—rabbis, teachers, local leaders and community members—rededicate ourselves to the Rebbe’s vision of transforming the world for the better—one child at a time, one community at a time, and one city at a time.”
A prominent leader in her field, Dr. Woolforde helped Northwell achieve the Center of Excellence in Nursing Education designation from the National League for Nursing (NLN), which made Northwell the first health system in the U.S. to earn this elite honor.
A board-certified nursing executive, Dr. Woolforde will lead patient-centered nursing care, quality and safety standards
By: Margarita Oksenkrug
Launette Woolforde, EdD, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, NEA-BC, FAAN, an internationally-renowned expert in nursing and healthcare, has been named chief nursing officer at Lenox Hill Hospital, Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital (MEETH), and Lenox Health Greenwich Village (LHGV). She will be responsible for providing strategic oversight of patient-centered nursing care, including implementing quality and safety standards, as well as for fostering a highly-engaged, supportive nursing environment that ensures professionalism and collaboration. She is board-certified in nursing professional development and as an advanced nurse executive.
Dr. Woolforde previously served as vice president of nursing education and professional development for Northwell Health. In that role, she oversaw a broad scope of strategic efforts and clinical education programs that impacted more than 17,000 nurses across the enterprise. She joined the health system in 2005 and has held progressive leadership roles throughout her tenure, including as corporate director of nursing education and senior administrative director for patient care services. Dr. Woolforde began her career as a nurse in medical, surgical and critical areas and later worked as a nurse supervisor and educator at various Long Island facilities. She is currently an assistant professor of science education at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and has taught at several nursing schools throughout her career.
A prominent leader in her field, Dr. Woolforde helped Northwell achieve the Center of Excellence in Nursing Education designation from the National League for Nursing (NLN), which made Northwell the first health system in the U.S. to earn this elite honor. Committed to investing in nursing education and career development, she has consistently created programs and opportunities to enable Northwell nurses to pursue and earn board certification and career progression. Northwell’s nurse certification rate among nurse leaders and frontline clinical nurses is consistently higher than the national mean for Magnet designated-hospitals.
Her other achievements include launching a centralized, systemwide, interprofessional orientation program; creating a multiphase learning curriculum for the SkyHealth air medical transport program; creating and leading the systemwide Magnet Council; spearheading the development of the oncology nursing fellowship and most recently, the systemwide nurse residency program.
Dr. Woolforde boasts an impressive list of professional achievements and prestigious accolades. She was the recipient of the 2019 International Founder’s Award for excellence in nursing practice from the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing and was named a 2019 National Certified Nurse of the Year by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
That same year, Dr. Woolforde was honored with the Columbia University, Teachers College Nursing Education Alumni Achievement Award for nursing practice and was inducted into the university’s Hall of Fame. In 2017, she was selected as the recipient of the national Belinda E. Puetz Founders Award from the Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD). She and her teams have been finalists in the Northwell Health President’s Award program over several years.
As a highly sought-after speaker and presenter, Dr. Woolforde has been invited to lecture, teach and consult nationally and internationally on such topics as effectively influencing decision-makers, motivating and inspiring others, driving change, leading in a changing and challenging healthcare landscape, succeeding with interprofessional collaboration, and transforming the practice of nursing. She has been the principal investigator in an array of studies, which have primarily focused on nursing leadership, education and collaboration. She is an author of the current national scope and standards of practice for nursing professional development.
Dr. Woolforde is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) and the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) and a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NAM). She made numerous contributions to the profession in her two terms as a national board governor of the NLN and as a national board director of ANPD, where she launched a national diversity task force among other initiatives.
A driven nursing educator with a commitment to lifelong learning, Dr. Woolforde has earned numerous academic degrees. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Pace University, she went on to earn a master’s degree as an adult clinical nurse specialist from the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing at CUNY Hunter College and a post-masters certificate in nursing education from the College of New Rochelle School of Nursing. Dr. Woolforde subsequently earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH and a Doctor of Education (EdD) degree from Columbia University, Teachers College. She is the first nurse at Northwell to earn two doctoral degrees.
Lenox Hill, ranked by US News & World Report as one the top 10 hospitals in the state of New York has a long history of nursing achievement. It recently received the rare and coveted Magnet status for its commitment to nursing excellence and dedication to the highest quality of patient care. The prestigious international designation from the ANCC has been achieved by only eight percent of hospitals worldwide.
Lenox Hill nurses have also been honored with the Gold Beacon Award for Excellence for providing evidence-based care that has improved patient experience and outcomes. Of the 1,200 nurses employed by the hospital, 93% of clinical nurses possess a BSN degree or higher and 42% are board-certified, which is slightly above the national average.
The Commission on Cancer approval is bestowed only to programs that meet national quality care standards in 34 key areas
By: Margarita Oksenkrug
Lenox Hill Hospital has been granted accreditation by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) for its cancer program, which is part of the Northwell Health Cancer Institute, one the largest oncology programs in the New York metropolitan area. Lenox Hill is one of six CoC-accredited medical centers in Manhattan and the ninth Northwell hospital to receive the coveted recognition.
To earn this voluntary accreditation, a cancer program must meet national quality care standards in 34 key areas and maintain specific levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive, patient-centered care.
“This very important accreditation is the culmination of many years of hard work and dedication on the part of our talented clinicians and staff,” said Dennis Kraus, MD, vice chair of the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and director of the center for head and neck oncology, who led the charge on pursuing the CoC accreditation. “It highlights the exceptional level of comprehensive, innovative and personalized cancer care we offer at Lenox Hill.”
The Cancer Institute at Lenox Hill provides access to coordinated inpatient, surgical and outpatient programs at convenient locations throughout Manhattan. The vast multidisciplinary network of specialized clinicians offers services at Lenox Hill Hospital, Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital (MEETH), Lenox Heath Greenwich Village and at nearby physician practices, all of which share electronic medical records to allow for seamless, integrated care.
Lenox Hill’s cancer program offers a broad array of oncology services in more than a dozen clinical specialties, including breast surgery, gynecologic oncology, gastrointestinal cancer, head and neck surgery, neurosurgery, urologic surgery and thoracic surgery. The state-of-the-art imaging services and radiation therapy options are complemented by the recently expanded medical oncology program. Prominent cancer experts — renowned for their work in clinical care, research and education — are continually recruited to leadership positions.
As a CoC-accredited facility, Lenox Hill takes a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer and offers options that focus on the full spectrum of oncologic care, including prevention, early diagnosis, innovative therapies, surgical intervention, rehabilitation, follow-up for recurrent disease and end-of-life care. In addition to the latest medicine-based therapies and surgical interventions, cancer patients are offered a diverse suite of psycho-social support services, including social work, patient navigation, nutritional and genetic counseling, support groups and palliative care.
Patients are also granted full access to information on clinical trials, new treatments and genetic counseling. Northwell has been a leader in cancer clinical trials for more than 30 years and offers 150 active trials at any given time. The Cancer Institute collaborates with researchers at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, as well as cooperative groups across the country to provide access to the latest clinical trials.
Like all other programs accredited by the CoC, Lenox Hill maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a joint program of the CoC and American Cancer Society. The nationwide oncology outcomes database is the largest clinical disease registry in the world and is used to analyze trends in cancer care. This gives Lenox Hill access to exclusive information used to create national, regional and state benchmark reports, which in turn help hospital leadership develop essential quality improvement initiatives.
“We are extremely proud to receive a national accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, as this recognition validates that we are well equipped to compete with the top cancer programs in the country,” said Mark Schiffer, MD, executive director of Lenox Hill Hospital. “The cutting-edge oncology programs and services being offering in Manhattan add to Northwell’s long history of delivering superior cancer care to diverse communities throughout the New York metro area.”
Northwell Health Cancer Institute, which brings comprehensive care and support to patients throughout Long Island, Staten Island, Westchester, Queens and greater Manhattan, is one of the largest cancer programs in the country with a team of more than 200 world-class oncology experts across 25 medical disciplines who diagnose and treat 19,000 new cancer patients each year. It seamlessly integrates world-class hospitals, innovative treatments and leading oncology experts that can treat the most complex cancer cases.
Under the direction of Richard Barakat, MD, physician-in-chief and director of cancer, the Institute’s priorities include continued investment in Manhattan oncology services, expansion of clinical trials, development of specialized cancer programs, establishment of centers of excellence in pancreatic care and oncology care for pregnant women, and enhancement of cancer services within the health system’s eastern region in Suffolk County.
According to the New York State Department of Health, more New Yorkers choose Northwell for cancer care than any other health system. In addition to the CoC accreditation, the Institute’s programs have been accredited by several other leading cancer care organizations, including the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), the American Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery (AIMIS), the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), and the American College of Radiology (ACR).
The American Cancer Society estimates that almost 1.9 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2021 and projects more than 600,000 deaths from the disease. After increasing for most of the 20th century, the cancer death rate has been steadily decreasing from its peak three decades ago, for a total decline of 31 percent due to a reduction in smoking, as well as improvements in early detection and treatment. Even with the drop in death rates, cancer continues to be the second most common cause of death in men and women in the US.
Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, the CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients through standard-setting, prevention, research, education, and the monitoring of comprehensive, quality care. Its membership includes Fellows of the American College of Surgeons.
