Amid an intensifying global trade war, Israeli exports of goods and services are on track for another record year, with 4.6% growth in the first three quarters of 2019, compared to the same period of last year. Photo by Hillel Maeir/TPS on 12 February, 2019
By: Arye Green
Amid an intensifying global trade war, Israeli exports of goods and services are on track for another record year, with 4.6% growth in the first three quarters of 2019, compared to the same period of last year.
An analysis by the Ministry of Economy and Industry (MEI) into data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on exports in the first three quarters of this year shows that Israeli exports are on track to reach $114 billion at the end of 2019, compared to approximately $109 billion in 2018.
Israeli exports of goods and services stood at $84 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2019, an increase of 4.6% compared to the same period last year, when Israel exported a total of only $80.3 billion.
The Foreign Trade Administration (FTA) at the MEI notes that the increase was mainly attributable to exports of services, primarily in the high-tech sector.
Service exports reached a record $40.5 billion in the first three quarters of the year – an impressive increase of 11.7% compared to the same period last year.
Exports of goods in the third quarter also incr§eased, by approximately 4.1%. However, during the first half of 2019 commodity exports fell relative to the same period last year, mainly in the diamond sector, and this has affected the cumulative commodity export results since the beginning of the year.
Geographically, most of the growth in exports can be attributed to Europe, and specifically to the EU; exports to these regions increased by impressive rates of 3.9% and 4.8% respectively over this period.
Exports to the UK, Spain, Poland, and Belgium, as well as the United States, India, and Brazil, increased significantly in the first three quarters of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. In contrast, exports of goods to Asian markets such as China, Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea declined during this period.
Minister of Economy and Industry Eli Cohen said that the growing exports from Israel indicate the economy’s resilience, especially in light of the global trade war.
“After 2018 marked a record year for Israeli exports, I am delighted and proud of the exports of goods and services in the first three quarters of the year, which show that another record year is coming. These results should not be taken for granted during a particularly turbulent time in the global economy in general and in world trade in particular. These results prove that the Israeli economy is strong and that the Israeli industry and services are capable of coping successfully with global markets,” he said.
President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a joint news conference at the East Room of the White House February 15, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Since the conclusion of the right years of the disastrous Obama/Biden administration we must admit that we join many Jewish supporters of Israel as we witness firsthand the glorious rebirth of the U.S/Israel relationship. American Jews , however, for the most part have done far too little to celebrate the remarkable diplomatic successes for Israel that have been achieved in such a compact time-frame. The Trump/Netanyahu Era has seen (most recently) the neutralization of the well-peddled mendacious claims that were incessantly disseminated that the Israeli settlements were deemed illegal according to international law as well as the full U.S. recognition of Israel’s sovereign rights to Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, and a much needed realignment of the approach to the Palestinian Authority and its sources of funding.
All this has been accomplished while as individuals both President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu have faced what certainly should be seen for what it is: an unprecedented opposition from a toxic amalgam of corporate media, non-governmental organizations, elected political opposition, and a non-elected judiciary that seems united in its efforts to stymie every well thought out and proper decision made on both domestic policy or foreign policy.
This is not to say that each leader does not have his flaws. But committed Jews must feel apprehension at what comes next. And there is no doubt that we must ready ourselves for whatever eventuality unfolds.
Israel’s enemies will look to quickly reverse all of these gains should this leadership era end. It is an open question if the U.S. pro-Israel community has the right leaders in place to defend these diplomatic accomplishments as right and necessary. Now is the time for Israel’s friends in America to speak up and against the use of impeachments and indictments to overturn elections. The same goes for Israel.
We also offer our full-throated support for Rabbi Dov Fischer’s assertion in his recently published Israel National News column that “(Netanyahu) did not violate law. He did not engage in bribery. And he surely did not perpetrate an offense that would put him in a category with the likes of Ehud Olmert and others of that ilk.”
The editorial staff at the Jewish Voice happens to believe that Netanyahu’s stellar leadership and his rock solid, fervent commitment to Israel’s safety is a lot more important than a few free gifts that were tossed in the prime minister’s direction or the amount of take out food that his wife ordered. All these lame excuses of wrongdoing and petty illegalities are part and parcel of the left-wing campaign to drive Netanyahu from office so that they can rejoice as they overturn everything the Trump administration.
Our fervent hope is to see justice done and see an end to the efforts to see both President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu prevented from continuing their chain of accomplishments to make Israel more secure.
The Toronto Sun newspaper reported in its Nov. 22 issue that
anti-Israel extremists on the York University campus shouted "Intifada, Intifada, go back to the ovens!”
Photo Credit: Twitter
The Toronto Sun newspaper reported in its Nov. 22 issue that anti-Israel extremists on the York University campus shouted “Intifada, Intifada, go back to the ovens!” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced the violence stating: “What happened that night was shocking and absolutely unacceptable. Anti-Semitism has no place in Canada. We will always denounce it.” Trudeau clearly saw that there is no difference between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. He is correct.
These sickening calls to kill Jews happened while Herut Canada was sponsoring a Nov. 20 evening program with “Reservists On Duty” which describes itself as “a non-profit organization established in 2015 by IDF veterans who felt a duty to expose and counter the BDS movement and new forms of anti-Semitism erupting on US college campuses.”
Herut Canada’s student leader, Lauren Isaacs has stated: “These were, in fact, riots. Not peaceful protests.” She goes further and says “the explosiveness of the event at York University is very telling about the culture of Antisemitism and intolerance towards Israel that exists on most university campuses nowadays.”
Lauren Isaacs is right and the U.S. Jewish establishment and its leaders must be forced to stop responding to this challenge in the same business-as-usual way that they have been for the last 10 years. The hatred of Israel on campus is growing unabated and pro-Israel students need better support.
Marc Newburgh the CEO of Hillel Ontario stated on the Hillel website that “Hillel York declined to sponsor or host last night’s program because we believed the event did not align with our campus programming strategy and we were concerned about the risk of violence.” So Herut Canada went it alone. What’s more the Canadian Jewish News (CJN) reported that Isaacs claimed that Hillel tried to have the event cancelled.
This act of cowardice on the part of Hillel surely emboldened the Israel-haters. A real commitment to Jewish unity is just part of the answer here. Hillel should have supported this Herut event from the start and we demand for Hillel’s policies to be reviewed and corrected and ask that others support this call.
Marc Newburgh should be removed from his position. There is no room for Jewish organizational professionals such as Newburgh.
Lastly, the physical confrontations that night in Toronto should make plain that young Jews must be prepared to protect themselves. The BlogTO news website described the protest in its headline as a “Brawl.” CJN called it a “Clash.” Whatever its called, this physically violent anti-Semitism is a real thing on campus that young Jews are facing and must be prepared for. Just as there was a sea change in the way Jews saw the necessity for synagogue security after Pittsburgh and Poway we hope for a transformation here. The event went on because Jews did not back down when physically challenged. They stood their ground.
Isaacs told a reporter: “even with all the disruptions, including three interruptions inside the room once the event started, she considers the night a success. For one thing, it was very well attended and the audience was engaged.” Let’s wish Isaacs and all of the other campus Zionist activists like her many more successful nights for Israel and demand real support from Hillel for Zionism on campus.
Congress passing and the President signing another stopgap spending bill keeping the government open another four weeks until December 20 is just kicking the can down the road. Another federal government shut down may take place in December when the most recent temporary budget extension is set to expire. This reminds me of “Stuck In The Middle With You” by the band Stealers Wheel. The words “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you” from the song. It perfectly sums up the chaos and gridlock in Washington.
If federal civil servants face periodic furloughs, so too should White House employees, members of Congress and their staff. Federal employees work just as hard as their counterparts in the private sector. Many in the military, CIA, FBI, United States Marshals, ICE, Border Security and Coast Guard put their lives on the line every day protecting our nation. They remain on the payroll but can suffer from a delay in their pay.
The government shut down and furlough of non essential federal government employees is a waste of taxpayers dollars. Even when furloughs take place, Congress has ended up retroactively paying federal employees for the days they could not report for duty.
Both the President and Congress need to work together, if we are ever going to put our fiscal house in order and end future threats of both sequestering and furloughs. We need to return to the time when Congress held budget hearings for each department during the summer. A real balanced budget, agency by agency, was adopted during an open process. Members of Congress, federal employees, the public, watchdog groups and media were afforded sufficient time to understand the full contents prior to adoption. Full federal budgets were adopted on time prior to the start of any new Federal Fiscal year on October 1. This was a time many years ago when there were no furloughs.
The White House and Congress should be held accountable for their actions, or in this case inactions, just as employees are at personnel evaluations. Voters can conduct their own personnel evaluations of both Congress and the President on Election Day in 2020. Both the President, members of Congress and their respective employees should be docked one full day’s pay for each day a full Federal Fiscal Year 2020 budget is not adopted on time. They need to perform this most basic requirement of their jobs, which is passing a budget on time, just like federal civil servants do on a daily basis.
Why not end bipartisan gridlock?. Instead of another in a series of stop gap continuing resolutions to keep the government open, pass a clean spending bill with no attached amendments for the balance of Fiscal Year 2020 ending on September 30th using Fiscal Year 2019 numbers.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
BDS Thrives, Students Cry at Columbia
Dear Editor:
We walked in knowing, deep down, that defeat was most likely inevitable. We walked in understanding, deep down, that the council was not on our side. We walk in recognizing, deep down, that the 10,000 Jewish students on our campus, the pro-Israel voices on our campus, our strong, brave, bold voices would be muted with a simple “yes.” We walked in together, ready to fight BDS.
Hours before the vote, members of Students Supporting Israel, Aryeh, J Street, and Hillel put all their cards on the table, ready and able to unite against the possibility of Columbia College Student Council sending this hateful, antisemitic referendum to students, regardless of the differentiated views.
We had pages and pages of written, evidential fact on the detriment on BDS to various communities, countries, nations. We formulated paragraphs and paragraphs of arguments and counter arguments and counters to counters until it was time to enter that room with everything we have and everything we live for.
As soon as the other groups made their statements, their aggressive, misinformed, hurtful statements, I knew the night would end in tears. And that it did. A council member, who had no opinion on the matter, had a legitimate panic attack from the extremity of the situation. Other council members, who were in support of BDS, blatantly shamed her for having PTSD, saying that if she couldn’t deal with it, “she shouldn’t be here.” In fact, it is important to note, that pro-BDS students made sure to have people run for council who would only be there to pass this one vote. Does this represent our student body? Is the council there just to insert people who feel one way or another about certain issues? Is this at all democratic? I don’t think so. We don’t think so.
While we were in the room, students filled the overflow room, watching live. On the live stream chat, someone posted a meme about the situation, an antisemitic, anti-Israel, hateful meme. Freshman began to cry, feeling helpless, hopeless, uncertain on how to deal with such malice that they were surely not expecting. We mentioned this to the council, which they then claimed as an “anecdote” that was deemed, somehow, irrelevant.
After hearing the word “yes,” after hearing it passed, my heart fell to the floor. As someone who never cries, I didn’t think I would. Of course, I did, along with many others who felt the same way I was feeling, in that very one moment. We left the room, as SJP and JVP members screamed, boasted, roared in great excitement, at the top of their lungs “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Holding my camera up in dismay, with tears trapped in my eyes, with my hands shaking uncontrollably, I couldn’t believe my ears, my eyes, the insensitivity happening right in front of me, in front of us.
I ask, I plead, I beg the students on this liberal-minded, open-minded, beautiful campus to vote no to antisemitism, to vote no to hatred, to vote no to this referendum that will only divide, that will only bring detriment, that will only harm.
When you hear that we are the anti-BDS side, and they are the pro-BDS side, that does not mean that we are the anti. In fact, we are the pro. We are the pro-Israel, pro-Jewish, pro-peace side that doesn’t want “sides.” We want dialogue. We want inclusion. We want together. Do you?
Sincerely
Romy Ronen
(Romy Ronen is a sophomore at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. She is a board member of Students Supporting Israel at Columbia University, works with Jewish National Fund, Israeli American Council, etc.)
Meir Jolovitz writes: “In Israel, and in America, it is time to level that playing field and to be those few – and say ‘no more’ to losing”
It’s worse than simply not playing fair. They are dirty. They lie. They cheat. They manipulate. The end always justifies the means. Let’s level the field
By: Meir Jolovitz
More than a century and a half ago, the American theologian and author James Freeman Clarke suggested that “a politician thinks of the next election – a statesman of the next generation.”
His sentiment was echoed decades later, by a somewhat kinder Winston Churchill who opined that “some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party.” But it was the comedian Eric Idle who trumped them both with, “A lot has been said about politics; some of it complimentary, but most of it accurate.”
It seems a truism of politics that the good always look for the good in the bad, and the bad always look for the bad in the good. Both usually find it. For the former, it seems a frequent and foolish exercise of self-deception, where they cannot come to terms with the reality that the bad might actually be that bad; and for the latter it is a necessary exercise that serves a political plan that allows them to deny the possibility of any such good. The result: an unbridgeable divide.
This past week, as a prelude to the 2020 United States presidential election, we were witness to a campaign that was in full progress. Despite the fact that the Democratic field of candidates now numbers 18 (a figure that might change even while one reads this, and not necessarily fewer), President Donald Trump is the singular campaign issue. And it unites them all. Photo Credit: Florida Politics
It is really much simpler than it sounds. And, there is ample evidence. The problem is, the good is too often gullible, and the bad, hardly at all.
Maybe Hitler really wants only the Sudetenland. And for Hitler, it is the Jews who are the cause of all the world’s ills. For the former, this exercise of self-delusion advances a false narrative, because it is easier than believing what one doesn’t want to believe. It is at best the suspension of common sense and at its worse a surrender to a policy of political suicide. For the latter, theirs is a contrived and calculated agenda capitalizing on the other’s utter naiveté, or its misbegotten good will.
Perhaps not ironically, the fools tend to be those who are the “good” – the very essence of the classically liberal Western democratic thinking – something which is not lost on the “bad.” Axiomatically, the one will be compromising, the other will not, a fact that most poker players might play to advantage.
The Israelis are good. Their enemies, bad. No need for footnotes. And yet…
Israel has so frequently suspended rational thinking and better judgement in the hope that it might find a suitable peace partner from among those who have long subscribed – often quite openly – to a genocidal solution to the conflict between Muslim and Jew.
Fully cognizant that the Muslim and Arab war against the Jewish State is religious and not territorial, the good nonetheless agrees to a discussion of territorial concessions to the bad. When concessions, however unwise and ill-considered, don’t work, Israel offers more.
Political partisanship or affiliation seems not to matter: Ben Gurion, Begin, Rabin, Netanyahu, Barak, Sharon, Olmert. They all offered irrational concessions. Some were accepted, others rejected. The Arabs, the bad actors who stood on their principles, never thought Israel’s conciliatory gestures were excessive enough. In Israel’s willingness to appease, its imprudence was matched by Arabs intransigence. Maybe there is a God after all, the same who hardened the heart of Pharaoh.
In an almost Orwellian inversion of reality, the coming American election is framed by the Democrats as good versus bad. Amusingly, or absurdly, the party of Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, of Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and CAIR, presents itself as the good. Photo Credti: alaraby.co.uk
The confrontation between good and bad is found everywhere. And too often misunderstood.
This past week, as a prelude to the 2020 United States presidential election, we were witness to a campaign that was in full progress. Despite the fact that the Democratic field of candidates now numbers 18 (a figure that might change even while one reads this, and not necessarily fewer), President Donald Trump is the singular campaign issue. And it unites them all.
In an almost Orwellian inversion of reality, the coming American election is framed by the Democrats as good versus bad. Amusingly, or absurdly, the party of Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, of Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and CAIR, presents itself as the good.
Understanding that language dictates the narrative, and the narrative defines the debate, the Democrats have launched an all-out, ever-evolving, assault on the president. Not his party, but against the man. It is somewhat noteworthy to remember that they haven’t targeted the Republicans as a party despite having done so in every previous election historically. Now, instead, it’s Trump. “Deranged” is one of the kinder comments.
Target Trump. Character. Campaign finance laws. Child detention “concentration camps”. Collusion with the Russians. Conspiracy. Cover-up. Quid pro quo. And now, a new catch-word that was the product of the recommendation of several focus groups put together by the anti-Trump hysteria: bribery.
One might argue that the anti-Trump campaign has actually ‘devolved’ in broadcasting its message over time. From porn stars, to Russians, to Ukrainians, and you can bet, soon to whatever the Democratic strategists and marketing specialists are cooking up next. After all, the election is still almost a year away. This much we know – it will be conveniently categorized under the familiar title of “abuse of power” and something or other employing that nomenclature of no one being “above the law.”
Little time nor effort is given to discuss and debate the strongest American economy in a generation. The best employment figures. Or the strongest stock market ever. On the same day that Wall Street announced that the Dow Jones broke the record for an all-time high for the 101st time during Trump’s presidency,
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch returns for additional questioning after a break while testifying before the House Intelligence Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill on November 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. In the second impeachment hearing held by the committee, House Democrats continue to attempt to build a fraudulent case against President Donald Trump. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Congress and the media was instead focused on the transgressions of a president who made Marie Yovanovich sad when she was dismissed as American ambassador to Ukraine. As he was constitutionally and legally allowed to do. The way Barack Obama had asked his nascent State Department to request that every George Bush-appointed ambassador submit their resignation in 2008, effective in January 2009 when the new president was to be inaugurated.
In the US, the practice is commonplace – irrelevant to the fact that it might hurt someone’s feelings and make them sad. It is the president’s prerogative and privilege as he so chooses. Sorry Marie, but Trump could fire you simply because he thought you didn’t use enough conditioner after shampooing.
It didn’t matter. Target Trump. Make him look bad employing the most recent coup de jour. Long forgotten were Stormy Daniels, James Comey, Michael Cohen, Brett Kavanaugh, and Jamal Khashoggi. Imagine. Making a former ambassador who had been praised repeatedly as “tough as nails” for having served in two war fronts – Somalia and Ukraine – sad. That was the new news. The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, and an army of political analysts and Internet pundits refocused the chief reason to impeach the president to the hurtful feelings that he callously ignored. You cannot make this up.
The Democrats are much smarter than the Republicans. Well, certainly more deceitful. Actually, both, because the two are here synonymous. While the Obama administration was not called upon to hold inquiries to investigate its nearly two-dozen scandals – many clearly within the Democrats’ present interpretation of “abuse of power” – nor held accountable for the misconduct of so many American foreign policy blunders, for eight years the Republicans surrendered to the belief that there must have existed some good in the bad.
One can readily recall several scandals that rose to the level of impeachment during Obama’s tenure – certainly abuses that were significantly more injurious to American interests than that of the testimony of another anti-Trumper who heard from someone who had in turn spoken to someone who knew someone who was pretty certain that Trump had done something wrong.
Former ambassador, William Taylor. Photo Credit: USembassy.gov
Sounds comical. It is not. That was the lead testimony of another former ambassador, William Taylor the first day of the anti-Trump impeachment hearings.
Bad actors don’t play fair. Someone must have said that before – maybe Moses, or Churchill, or maybe someone from the Game of Thrones. Whoever, it is true.
But it’s worse than simply not playing fair. They are dirty. They lie. They cheat. They manipulate. The end always justifies the means.
One of the great old curmudgeons of American history, journalist H.L. Menken stated that “under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to try to prove that the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed, and are right.”
The same might be said of both American and Israeli political affairs, where political adversaries root for the other party to fail, even at the cost of seeing the best interest of the nation compromised.
Politics in Israel, at a time where the two major political parties are at each other’s throats is very similar to what we now see being played out in America. The media in Israel and the US plays similar roles as well. At issue – whether or not the legal system should be fully exercised, and weaponized, to bring down the incumbent, because after all, the political process – the elections – cannot be fully trusted. The argument that this might bring to question the greater good of the nation is moot. Rather, it is being suggested by those who favor the political inquisitions – that these “show trials” actually serve for the greater good of the nation. Orwell called it doublespeak.
We live at a time when optics matter as much as facts, maybe more. Logically, we are offered political theater at every turn, with kangaroo courts as the vehicle. Stalin would offer a wink. Good has little chance against the bad, unless it learns, before the clock runs out, to pick up the same weapons. It is time to confront them. Expose them. And shame them. Truth be told, our adversaries are somewhat perplexed that we have not.
The former Russian poet and essayist Joseph Brodsky, who knew a thing or two about the injustices of Soviet political oppression, explained it well by offering us two relevant quotations: “Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse.” Often, perhaps. And if that truly be the case, this as well:
“Life is a game with many rules but no referee. One learns how to play it more by watching it than by consulting any book, including the holy book. Small wonder, then, that so many play dirty, that so few win, that so many lose.”
In Israel, and in America, it is time to level that playing field and to be those few – and say ‘no more’ to losing.
(INN)
Meir Jolovitz is a past national executive director of the Zionist Organization of America, and formerly associated with the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies.
Dov Hikind, who was first elected in 1982, is one of the longest serving members of the New York State Assembly. Dov is also a lifelong Jewish activist, having been a prominent member of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Jewish Defense League in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Photo Credit: New York State Assembly
How can Jews expect non-Jews to raise their voices and fight the fight if so many Jews are too comfortable and cocooned to actually stand up for themselves?
By: Dov Hikind
Anyone who has read Deborah Lipstadt’s Anti-Semitism: Here and Now or Bari Weiss’s How To Fight Anti-Semitism is aware of three primary strains of the modern anti-Semitism virus: far-Right, far-Left, and radical Islamist.
Each strain has its own particular qualities, modes of expression, reasoning, history, and adherents. Anti-Semitism from the far-Right tends to be the province of white supremacists who buy wholesale into racial replacement theory, and charge the Jew with being a racially inferior caste, “rootless cosmopolitans” bent on world domination through global financial manipulation.
Anti-Semitism from the far-Left tends to be the province of (largely white, but also minorities who are) ultra-progressives who demonize Jews as colonialists and oppressors who shapeshift just enough out of their fair Jewish skin to benefit from white privilege.
Radical Islamism is a combination of both far-Right and far-Left anti-Semitic ideologies with the added sprinklings of age-old Hadiths that refer to Jews as “descendants of apes and pigs” and a modern-day blood libel of being “baby killers” who have no historical connection to the Land of Israel. In most parts of the world, when a Jew is attacked for being Jewish, one of these strains can easily be discerned. Except … for New York City. Suddenly, here, these neat definitions no longer adequately define the hatred that’s motivating mostly young minorities to attack Jews in broad daylight. Why is anti-Semitism in New York City any different?
Orthodox Jewish men in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Serge Attal/Flash90.
The city of Ellis Island has always been a “melting pot”; of peoples, cultures, languages, and … ideas. It is now also the melting pot of anti-Semitic ideologies that is boiling over. The Islamic reformer Maajid Nawaz recently summed up the nexus of these three strains thusly: “All racism is equally evil. Anti-Semitism is the most dangerous form of racism because it has the capacity to unite fascists of the far-left, far-right & Islamist extremes. I call this the #TripleThreat.”
It’s only in New York City where a young minority, himself the target of white supremacy, will attack a Jew and hurl the insult that “Hitler should’ve finished the job,” seemingly ignorant to the fact that Hitler would’ve finished him off too if only he had the chance!
We’ve been told by law enforcement that most of the violent anti-Semitic attacks and vandalism against visibly identifiable Jews and institutions by these youngsters are borne of ignorance, that “they don’t even know what a swastika is,” and yet that hasn’t changed the reality that New York City is far outpacing the country and world in the steep rise of anti-Semitic hate crimes. What can this be attributed to? And does it represent a new strain of anti-Semitism?
Social media, for one, has broken down the barriers between borders and rigid ideologies, so that we now see David Duke, a white supremacist, lend public support to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose brand of anti-Semitism is of the far-Left, radical Islamist strain typical. Furthermore, New York City, as the largest population of Jews, and specifically Orthodox Jews, in the country, presents an easy target for any anti-Semite who has acquired the amalgamation of hateful anti-Semitism strains.
What this all signifies, so perfectly, is that at the root, anti-Semitism is … irrational. The “reasons” for hating Jews have evolved with time, but the hatred at its core remains the same.
Surveillance video shows one man walking near Rodney and Marcy streets in Williamsburg when someone runs up and strikes him so hard, his hat flies off his head and he is nearly knocked over. Photo Credit: NYPD
It’s irrational because only Jews are accused of being white and not sufficiently white in the same breath. It’s irrational because only Jews are targeted for hate crimes with such disproportionality that the numbers are literally off-the-charts in comparison with any other minority group, despite being a tiniest of minorities. It’s irrational because only Jews are judged by the actions of the few by the very same people who claim to be fighting racism and bigotry which reduces people to broad generalizations. It’s irrational because only Jews are attacked on campus for the actions of another sovereign state, whereas no other student group is attacked in the same way.
Are Muslim students attacked on campus for the actions of Saudi Arabia or Iran? Are anti-black, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Muslim, or anti-any-minority groups given space to express their hatred and intimidate students on campuses or is that passive allowance of hatred just reserved for Jews? Is there a movement that calls for the boycott, divestment and sanctions of any other country other than the sole Jewish state? Is that BDS movement used to intimidate any other student groups on campuses across the globe other than Jews?
To understand root anti-Semitism is to suspend rationality as that’s the only way to maintain track of the many inherent contradictions, paradoxes and oxymorons posed by the various strains currently available on the market. Ask an anti-Semite why they hate or attack Jews and they’ll respond with anything from Jewish money (apparently only Jews have it and only Jews are responsible for capitalist gentrification), Jewish power (apparently only Jews exercise their constitutional voting and representation rights as an interest group), Jewish control (apparently only Jews control corporations especially the ones that are ironically anti-Jewish), and Jewish crimes (apparently only Jews are in jails and they represent all Jews).
And it’s only about Jews that one is even interested in the “reasons” behind bigoted hatred. There is no good reason to hate an individual you know nothing about! Not if they’re black, white, Muslim, Christian, atheist, or Jewish! But you wouldn’t know that when it comes to the Jews, because “good people” who are “smart” will tell you, well, hmm, you know, it’s not that Jews deserve to be attacked, but, Israel, and Palestinians, slumlords, and Rothschild, and, and, and … And it’s precisely because hatred of Jews can be so expertly rationalized despite its core irrationality that the response to violent anti-Semitism has been so tepid. Were it dogs or cats that were routinely and randomly receiving beatings, punches, kicks, broken bones and bloodied faces by violent criminals the outrage would be massive and instantaneous! Millions would march on Washington! But for Jews? Not so much.
The brave anti-Nazi German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.” Here’s the kicker, though. Not only are so many “good people” silent about anti-Semitism, but so many Jews! Too many have either given in to the Right by becoming good “white Jews,” or the Left by becoming good “Jews in name only,” or radical Islamism by becoming “Jews against Israel.” So how can Jews expect non-Jews to raise their voices and fight the fight if so many Jews are too comfortable and cocooned to actually stand up for themselves? Or worse yet, feeding into the very hatred we’re trying to repel?
The brave anti-Nazi German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.” Here’s the kicker, though. Not only are so many “good people” silent about anti-Semitism, but so many Jews! Photo Credit: You Tube
So how do we ‘fight anti-Semitism’? Unfortunately, just as anti-Semitism can no longer easily be defined or isolated, neither can the solutions come easy. Let me be clear: there is no easy way out! There is no kumbaya moment to be had! There is no amount of ‘dialogue’ (though important) or defensive myth-debunking (also important) that will eradicate the various strains of anti-Semitism or its amalgamation. Instead, we must be prepared to fight. Both figuratively and literally.
It’s only 75 years since the Jewish ashes at Auschwitz, Treblinka and Majdanek ceased blowing in the winds of Europe. It’s only those who have truly forgotten the magnitude and scope to the endless depths a depraved nation can descend to in the name of ‘high culture anti-Semitism’ who are in danger of repeating the same horrors. Thus, as Jews we have to be prepared to do two things: to fight anti-Semitism ‘here and now’ so that day indeed doesn’t arrive again; and, should our efforts prove futile at prevention, then all the same we must be prepared to fight the big fight, when all the evil forces of the world are again arrayed against the Jewish people.
Hitler openly threatened to annihilate world Jewry; no one took him seriously at the time. Hitler went about annihilating world Jewry, and still no one took him seriously until six million were annihilated. Now again, in our generation, we have leaders like Ayatollah Khamenei and Hassan Nasrallah who call for the destruction of the lone Jewish state, and pathetic puppets like Jeremy Corbyn celebrate those leaders while claiming the mantle of humanitarianism.
History is in fact repeating itself. But the present is not the same. Israel, the Left wants you to believe, is the primary cause of anti-Semitism. That Jews contribute to their own hatred is an antiquated charge going back to ancient Greece. But what the anti-Semites don’t realize about the Jews who know their history is that there was always a “reason” for Jew-hatred that fit the social milieux, while the core of the Jewish people has always remained the same.
So if the hate has had to change and find new reasons and masks through which to express its deepest misanthropic demons, it tells us that it’s utterly irrational, and therefore that core of the Jewish people isn’t falling for it again!
Despite what radical ‘Jews in name only’ will say, the core of the Jewish people are proud Zionists. So unlike in 1939 when the Nazis invaded Poland and the ghettos were created, or 1941 when the killing squads started the Holocaust by bullet and then Holocaust by mobile gas van, or 1942 when the final solution was devised at Wannsee, followed by the advent of death camps, cattle cars, gas chambers and crematoria, with six million Jews gone in a flash as the world stood in silence, we shall now raise our voices ever higher.
We won’t be silenced. And we won’t tolerate the silence of so many “good people” who can’t be bothered to rid society of this ‘longest hatred’. For as long as the anti-Semitism virus survives and thrives, it shall always be remembered in history’s hindsight as an irremovable stain and blemish on every society that thought of itself as advanced but was yet so utterly cruel and barbaric.
And now that God has brought the Jewish people back to Israel from the darkest depths of history’s hell, we will fight back, and fight hard against all those evil forces who so much as raise a hand to destroy our people. Just as anti-Semitism at its core remains unchanged and irrational, so too the resolve of the Jewish people to choose life is the inexplicable flame that can and will never be extinguished.
(Israel HaYom)
Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Anti-Semitism, served in the New York State Assembly for 36 years as an outspoken advocate for his constituency, battling discrimination, antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and human rights violations.
Comedian, film producer and social activist Sasha Baron Cohen told thousands of attendees at racial and religious hate was being not only tolerated but intentionally promoted by such social media platforms as Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube, to name just a few. Photo Credit: ADL
By: Fern Sidman
At the much heralded Anti-Defamation League 2019 “Never is Now” Summit on anti-Semitism in New York City that was held on Thursday (November 21) at the Jacob Javits Center on Manhattan’s west side, comedian, film producer and social activist Sasha Baron Cohen told thousands of attendees that racial, religious, sexual orientation and gender bias was being not only tolerated but intentionally promoted by such social media platforms as Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube, to name just a few.
During the afternoon plenary session, Baron Cohen was presented with the 2019 ADL International Leadership Award, which pays tribute to those “exceptional individuals whose vision, imagination and creativity have left an indelible mark upon the global community.”
Baron Cohen has used humor and satire to expose people’s inherent biases by depicting racists, anti-Semites, neo-Nazis, Islamophobes and others are deeply flawed, ordinary people whose prejudices are ultimately, laughable.
As an internationally renowned celebrity of stage and screen and a public figure in his own right, Baron Cohen has not shied away from taking on tough subjects off-screen, having recently spoken out about the abysmal failure of social media companies to adequately address the rampant racism, anti-Semitism as well as racial and ethnic hate that is proliferating on their platforms.
On Thursday, however, Baron Cohen took his criticism of internet companies and social media platforms to a new level as he essentially upbraided them in his acceptance address.
He began his remarks by offering his audience some cogent background on his unswerving commitment to social justice.
“I’ve been passionate about challenging bigotry and intolerance throughout my life. As a teenager in the UK, I marched against the fascist National Front and to abolish Apartheid,” Baron Cohen said. “As an undergraduate, I traveled around America and wrote my thesis about the civil rights movement, with the help of the archives of the ADL. And as a comedian, I’ve tried to use my characters to get people to let down their guard and reveal what they actually believe, including their own prejudice,” he declared with a marked passion reverberating in his voice.
Baron Cohen gave voice to the threat presented to democracies the world over and the horrific escalation of autocratic regimes. “Hate crimes are surging, as are murderous attacks on religious and ethnic minorities. All this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history, ” he intoned.
He added, “Think about it. Facebook, YouTube and Google, Twitter and others—they reach billions of people. The algorithms these platforms depend on deliberately amplify the type of content that keeps users engaged—stories that appeal to our baser instincts and that trigger outrage and fear. It’s why YouTube recommended videos by the conspiracist Alex Jones billions of times. It’s why fake news outperforms real news, because studies show that lies spread faster than truth. And it’s no surprise that the greatest propaganda machine in history has spread the oldest conspiracy theory in history—the lie that Jews are somehow dangerous. As one headline put it, “Just Think What Goebbels Could Have Done with Facebook.”
Referencing the character he made famous known as Borat, Baron Cohen said, When he got that bar in Arizona to agree that “Jews control everybody’s money and never give it back,” the joke worked because the audience shared the fact that the depiction of Jews as miserly is a conspiracy theory originating in the Middle Ages. But when, thanks to social media, conspiracies take hold, it’s easier for hate groups to recruit, easier for foreign intelligence agencies to interfere in our elections, and easier for a country like Myanmar to commit genocide against the Rohingya.”
Before launching into a scathing critique of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Baron Cohen said, ” I believe it’s time for a fundamental rethink of social media and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies.” Baron Cohen said that Zuckerberg offered up implausible excuses for allowing hate speech to proliferate unchecked on Facebook. Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Before launching into a scathing critique of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Baron Cohen said, ” I believe it’s time for a fundamental rethink of social media and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies.”
Baron Cohen said that Zuckerberg offered up implausible excuses for allowing hate speech to proliferate unchecked on Facebook.
He said that “Zuckerberg tried to portray this whole issue as “choices…around free expression.” That is ludicrous. This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people, including some of the most reprehensible people on earth, the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet. I think we could all agree that we should not be giving bigots and pedophiles a free platform to amplify their views and target their victims.
Second, Zuckerberg claimed that new limits on what’s posted on social media would be to “pull back on free expression.” This is utter nonsense. The First Amendment says that “Congress shall make no law” abridging freedom of speech, however, this does not apply to private businesses like Facebook. We’re not asking these companies to determine the boundaries of free speech across society. We just want them to be responsible on their platforms.”
Baron Cohen did not stop there, as he told his audience that Facebook and Zuckerberg were not exclusively responsible for being accomplices of hate speech, vile bigotry and social anarchy.
He also placed the blame on other Silicon Valley moguls who he said were focused on fattening their wallets rather than focusing on their social responsibilities to quell hate speech.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki speaks during the opening keynote address at the Google I/O 2017 Conference at Shoreline Amphitheater on May 17, 2017 in Mountain View, California. Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Blasting Zuckerberg for conflating the governmental regulations imposed on Facebook to the actions of “the most repressive societies”, Baron Cohen then said that Zuckerberg is “one of the six people who decide what information so much of the world sees. He said that the Silicon Six include Zuckerberg at Facebook, Sundar Pichai at Google, at its parent company Alphabet, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Brin’s ex-sister-in-law, Susan Wojcicki at YouTube and Jack Dorsey at Twitter.”
Also being honored at the ADL summit was Chobani founder and CEO, Hamdi Ulukaya. The yogurt company founder was presented with the ADL’s Courage Against Hate Award in recognition of his tireless efforts to improve the lives of refugees around the world. Ulukaya, who immigrated to the US from Turkey in 1994, has made a commitment to hiring immigrants and paying faire wages to his employees.
Through his constant efforts as a socially conscious entrepreneur, Ulukaya has significantly advanced the ADL’s sacred mission to fight hate and to seek secure justice to all by providing a safe haven to refugees and immigrants.
Addressing the thousands that attended the Never Is Now summit earlier in the day during the special sessions dedicated to panel discussions as well as an eclectic array of intellectually stimulating and thought provoking workshops were such prominent members of the journalism community as Jodi Rudoren, the editor in chief of The Forward, Bret Stephens, an op-ed columnist at the New York Times, and Bari Weiss, an op-ed staff editor and writer at the New York Times.
Sundar Pichai at Google. Photo Credit: Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A smattering of other speakers included Isaac Herzog, the chairman of the executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Elan Carr, the Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism at the State Department, Joan Ryan, a member of parliament of the British House of Commons, Eric Goldstein, the CEO of the UJA Federation of New York, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism and Sheila Katz, the Chief Executive Office of the National Council of Jewish Women.
In conjunction with the Never is Now Summit, the ADL rolled out its new global study of contemporary anti-Semitism.
About one in four Europeans polled in the survey harbor pernicious and pervasive attitudes toward Jews. While anti-Semitic attitudes held mostly steady in Western Europe, the poll found hateful notions about Jews are rising in Eastern and Central European countries polled, where long-held tropes about Jewish control of business and finance and of “dual loyalty” remain widespread.
In Poland, where restitution of Holocaust-era Jewish property and a controversial law on Holocaust speech were widely debated in recent years, anti-Semitic attitudes rose to 48 percent of the population, up from 37 percent in 2015. Roughly three out of four respondents in Poland agreed that “Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust.”
In Hungary, where a nationalist government ran anti-immigrant billboard campaigns featuring Jewish financier George Soros, 25 percent of the population believes “Jews want to weaken our national culture by supporting more immigrants coming to our country.” Hungary had an overall index score of 42 percent, compared to 40 percent in 2015.
In response to an odious and dramatic increase in anti-Semitic incidents and hate crimes targeting clearly identifiable Jews in Brooklyn, the ADL issued a press release last week announcing that they are doubling their funding for their premier education program, “No Place for Hate” in order to bring the program to twice as many schools in Brooklyn.
“The repeated violence and harassment of Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn is unacceptable and must stop now, ” said ADL CEO Jonathan A Greenblatt at a recently held press conference at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall. He was accompanied by Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, local faith leaders, elected officials and community partners. Mr. Greenblatt said, “since most hate crimes are born of ignorance for the ‘other,’ we believe that education, especially in the early years, can go a long way to building a foundation for understanding and a respect for diversity.”
In the early hours on Wednesday, November 20, in another Orthodox Jewish enclave known as Monsey in Rockland County, a 29 year old Orthodox Jewish man was brutally assaulted and repeatedly stabbed by two assailants as he walked to synagogue for the morning services.
“We are outraged by this terribly violent incident,” said Evan R. Bernstein, ADL NY/NJ Regional Director. “This is truly horrifying. A peaceful walk to shul in the early morning hours is how this man started the day and now he in serious condition in a hospital because of this attack. There is absolutely no room in our communities for violence. We must come together and stand shoulder to shoulder, not only to condemn this despicable act, but also work as a community to stem the tide of hatred and violence. We wish for the speedy and full recovery of the victim and hope this reward facilitates the swift apprehension of those responsible for this attack.”
The ADL (Anti-Defamation League) announced last Wednesday that it is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for the attack on the man in Monsey.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019, Who Will Write Our History had an unprecedented global theatrical release. On that day, Abramorama, with the support of UNESCO, the World Jewish Congress’ #WeRemember initiative and others, organized 355 screenings in 55 countries, as well as a premiere screening and a Facebook Live integrated event at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, with the participation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Emanuel Ringelblum, the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Poland, the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Birkenau, Poland.
Abramorama recently announced the Discovery acquisition of director Roberta Grossman and executive producers Nancy Spielberg, Ronald S. Lauder, and Ori and Mirit Eisen’s award-winning documentary Who Will Write Our History. The Discovery broadcast is scheduled for January 2020 in the U.S. and many territories around the world and comes at a time when facts are branded as “fake news” and journalism is under attack. The feature documentary, shot on location in Poland with the participation of Joan Allen, Adrien Brody, Jowita Budnik, Piotr Glowacki, Karolina Gruska and Wojciech Zielinski, reminds us of the courage of a secret band of journalists, scholars and community leaders who decided to fight back against lies and propaganda with paper and pen.
A New York Times Critics Pick, The Times called it “A bold story of Nazi resistance,” “Immensely important,” and “heartbreaking.” The deal was negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers by Abramorama’s COO/Partner Karol Martesko-Fenster and Strategic Advisor Joe Cantwell, and on behalf of Discovery by Senior Director, Business & Legal Affairs Melanie Jones.
Who Will Write Our History had a special screening in NYC at the 92nd Street Y, hosted by the 92nd Street Y, Ronald S. Lauder, and The Committee to Protect Journalists, followed by a conversation with director Roberta Grossman, Executive Producer Nancy Spielberg and “Who Will Write Our History?” author Samuel D. Kassow, moderated by CNN’s Dana Bash.
Executive Producer Ronald S. Lauder said, “From the moment I became involved with Who Will Write Our History, I shared Roberta’s and Nancy’s vision of producing a documentary film that must be seen by the widest possible global audience. Discovery’s vast international reach and reputation for presenting high-quality, non-fiction programming makes it the perfect television partner. Photo Credit: World Jewish Congress
Executive Producer Ronald S. Lauder said, “From the moment I became involved with Who Will Write Our History, I shared Roberta’s and Nancy’s vision of producing a documentary film that must be seen by the widest possible global audience. Discovery’s vast international reach and reputation for presenting high-quality, non-fiction programming makes it the perfect television partner. We deeply appreciate Nancy Daniels and David Zazlav’s support and commitment to broadcasting this important and timely story. The only way to fight modern day anti-Semitism is through education, and this film will be an important tool in that arsenal.”
Nancy Daniels, Chief Brand Officer Discovery & Factual added, “Who Will Write Our History reminds us all how important all voices are needed to find the truth. And while World War II was over nearly 75 years ago, today these stories emphasize how imperative it for journalists and writers to record and unpack the issues they are observing. Discovery is honored to work with Ronald, Nancy, and Roberta to bring this film to TV audiences in the U.S. and beyond.”
In November 1940, days after the Nazis sealed 450,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, a secret band of journalists, scholars and community leaders decided to fight back. Led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and known by the code name Oyneg Shabes, this clandestine group vowed to defeat Nazi lies and propaganda not with guns or fists but with pen and paper. Emanuel Ringelblum (Courtesy photo)
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019, Who Will Write Our History had an unprecedented global theatrical release. On that day, Abramorama, with the support of UNESCO, the World Jewish Congress’ #WeRemember initiative and others, organized 355 screenings in 55 countries, as well as a premiere screening and a Facebook Live integrated event at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, with the participation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Emanuel Ringelblum the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Poland, the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Birkenau, Poland.
The film went on to play in more than 75 countries and prestigious film festivals including the Palm Springs Film Festival, Rome Film Festival, and the Berlin Film Festival as a Berlinale Special. Who Will Write Our History has won audience awards at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Miami Jewish Film Festival and JFilm Festival, and best documentary at the Twin Cities Film Festival.
The Lodz Ghetto
In November 1940, days after the Nazis sealed 450,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, a secret band of journalists, scholars and community leaders decided to fight back. Led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and known by the code name Oyneg Shabes, this clandestine group vowed to defeat Nazi lies and propaganda not with guns or fists but with pen and paper. Now, for the first time, their story is told in the documentary featuring the voices of three-time Academy Award® nominee Joan Allen and Academy Award® winner Adrian Brody. Who Will Write Our History mixes the writings of the Oyneg Shabes archive with new interviews, rarely seen footage, and stunning dramatizations (shot on location in Lodz and Warsaw, Poland) to transport us inside the Ghetto and the lives of these courageous resistance fighters. They defied their murderous enemy with the ultimate weapon – the truth – and risked everything so that their archive would survive the war, even if they did not.
WHO WILL WRITE OUR HISTORY
Executive Producer of “Who Will Write Our History?” is Nancy Spielberg. Photo Credit: YouTube
(2019, USA/POLAND, 95 minutes, English, Yiddish, Polish) Abramorama, Katahdin Productions and Match&Spark Present in Association with ARTE / NDR, A Film by Roberta Grossman “Who Will Write Our History.” Based upon the book Who Will Write Our History? by Samuel D. Kassow. Written, Produced and Directed by Roberta Grossman. Executive Produced by Nancy Spielberg, Ronald S. Lauder, Al Berg, Ori and Mirit Eisen, Anna Różalska, Philippa Kowarsky. Co-Producer Tarik Hachoud. Line Producer Pavlina Zipkova. Commissioning Editor Katja Wildermuth. A Co-Production of EC1 Łódź-The City of Culture and Mazovia Warsaw Film Fund and A Polish Film Institute Co-Financed Production. Casting Piotr Bartuszek. Costume Designer Aleksandra Staszko. Composer Todd Boekelheide. Production Designers Frank Gampel, Marek Warszewski. Starring Joan Allen, Adrien Brody, Jowita Budnik, Piotr Glowacki, Karolina Gruszka, Wojciech Zielinksi. Editor Chris Callister and Ondine Rarey. Cinematography by Dyanna Taylor. Written, Produced and Directed by Roberta Grossman. www.whowillwriteourhistory.com. An Abramorama North American Theatrical and Global Special Events Release
About Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is dedicated to creating the highest quality non-fiction content that informs and entertains its consumers about the world in all its wonder, diversity and amazement. The network, which is distributed to 88.3 million U.S. homes, can be seen in 224 countries and territories, offering a signature mix of compelling, high-end production values and vivid cinematography across genres including, science and technology, exploration, adventure, history and in-depth, behind-the-scenes glimpses at the peoples, places, and organizations that shape and share our world. For more information, please visit www.discovery.com
About Discovery
In November 1940, the Nazis sealed 450,000 Jews in the infamous Warsaw Ghetto in occupied Poland.
Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is a global leader in real life entertainment, serving a passionate audience of superfans around the world with content that inspires, informs and entertains. Discovery delivers over 8,000 hours of original programming each year and has category leadership across deeply loved content genres around the world. Available in 220 countries and territories and nearly 50 languages, Discovery is a platform innovator, reaching viewers on all screens, including TV Everywhere products such as the GO portfolio of apps; direct-to-consumer streaming services such as Eurosport Player and MotorTrend OnDemand; digital-first and social content from Group Nine Media and a strategic alliance with PGA TOUR to create the international home of golf. Discovery’s portfolio of premium brands includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, and Science Channel, as well as OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in the U.S., Discovery Kids in Latin America, and Eurosport, the leading provider of locally relevant, premium sports and Home of the Olympic Games across Europe. For more information, please visit https://corporate.discovery.com/ and follow @DiscoveryIncTV across social platforms.
Close to 6000 Chabad Lubavitch Shluchim gathered in front of Lubavitch headquarters in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn to pose for their annual group photo. Photo Credit: shluchim.org
Combating anti-Semitism with mitzvahs, lovingkindness and joy
By: Dovid Margolin
Lettered and numbered circular tables lined the 150,000-square-foot New Jersey Convention Center, each one filled with a dozen rabbis and Jewish communal leaders, close to 6,000 people in all. They came together for the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim), which brings together Chabad rabbis and lay leaders from all 50 states and 100 countries, from California to Rwanda to Myanmar.
Rabbi Chaim Bar Sella of Kigali, Rwanda, opened the evening by leading the assembled in reading a chapter of Psalms. (Photo: Itzik Roytman)
In a year of growing challenges for the Jewish people, with anti-Semitism increasing both domestically and worldwide, including the horrific shooting in April at Chabad of Poway that left one woman dead and three injured, the conference struck a defiant and positive tone, focusing on all the good that has been accomplished and all the work on behalf of the Jewish people yet to come.
The gathering comes as the world marks 25 years since the passing of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, who, following his ascension to the leadership of the Chabad movement 70 years ago, began sending emissaries around the world. What started as a handful of brave pioneers has grown into an army of 5,000 couples, rabbis and their wives, who leave home and hearth to serve Jewish communities, or, at times, build them from scratch, in places near and far.
A case in point was Rabbi Chaim Bar Sella of Kigali, Rwanda, who opened the evening by leading the assembled in reading a chapter of Psalms. Bar Sella and his wife, Dina, and their 11-month old son, Schneur Zalman, packed their bags in September and moved to the Central African nation, where together they established Chabad of Rwanda, as well as the country’s first-ever synagogue and Jewish center.
Shalom Hurwitz delivered his father’s heartfelt speech. (Photo: Itzik Roytman)
The evening was emceed as always by the inimitable Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch—the educational arm of the Chabad movement—who spoke of the challenges and accomplishments the Chabad emissaries encountered their work. The first speech was that of Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz, co-director with his wife, Dina, of Chabad of Temecula, Calif. Hurwitz was struck with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and, living in Los Angeles and unable to speak or move of his own strength, his speech—which he wrote with his eyes—was delivered by his son, Shalom, who just recently enjoyed his bar mitzvah.
“My dear brothers,” Shalom read in his father’s name. “How I wish I could be here with you at the Kinus. The Baal Shem Tov says, ‘In the place where a person’s thoughts are that is where he is,’ so I feel that I am with you right here, right now.”
Cantor I.M. Helfgott led the crowd in singing. (Photo: Itzik Roytman)
Hurwitz recalled receiving the chilling diagnosis, the news that he would lose his muscles, and then the ability to walk and then, the doctors said, his life. As he left the doctor’s office, he broke into a fit of tears. After composing himself, he walked out of the building and witnessed a man having a seizure, and ran over to help him.
“At that moment, I realized that there is still a lot that I can do,” said the man known by thousands simply as “Rabbi Yitzi,” through his son. “I resolved that no matter what the results of further tests, I was going to remain positive and find a way to make a difference. I couldn’t imagine how high that way of thinking would take me.”
He also acknowledged with appreciation the love, support, friendship, community of the brotherhood of emissaries during his time of need, and their ability to change the world.
“The power, the energy, the love and brotherhood in this room is what makes all of the difference in the world. And it is in every one of you to share with each other and with all of the world.”
Thousands danced through a maze of converging circles—ID tags and black hats bouncing to the upbeat sounds of Chassidic music. (Photo: Itzik Roytman)
Concluding the speech, young Shalom looked into the camera and said “L’chaim” to his bedridden father. His was an emotional standing ovation.
The keynote address was given by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who recalled his first interaction with Chabad back in 1994, when Rabbi Zalman and Chani Wolowik established Chabad of the Five Towns in a little storefront in Woodmere, N.Y. It was, Friedman recalled, within a half-mile radius of probably 15 other synagogues, and he “thought the Chabad House had as much of a chance for success as a store selling ice cubes to Eskimos.”
But soon he formed a relationship with the young Chabad rabbi—one that led to them becoming Torah-study partners for decades. They studied Tanach, beginning with the book of Joshua, which Friedman says not only aided his Judaic studies, but prepared him for his current role as the American ambassador to Israel.
He also recalled how, during the weeks prior to the U.S. decision to move the American embassy to Israel’s eternal capital of Jerusalem and other seminal events, Wolowik took Friedman to the Ohel, the Rebbe’s resting place in Queens, N.Y.
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman recalled his first interaction with Chabad back in 1994, when Rabbi Zalman and Chani Wolowik established Chabad of the Five Towns in a little storefront in Woodmere, N.Y. (Photo: Itzik Roytman)
“It’s an oasis of spirituality,” he said. “An opportunity to contemplate what you really need, rather than what you think you want. To ask the Rebbe … to be an advocate for those needs. I’ve never left the Ohel feeling anything but optimism and joy.”
Oklahoma to Slovakia to Istanbul
Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, a Chabad emissary who has served as senior rabbi of the Mill Hill Synagogue in London since 1991, shared his personal recollection of a private audience with the Rebbe he had together with his parents and family as a 3-year-old child. Hoping the Rebbe would bless him, he burst out crying when he mistakenly thought the Rebbe had not. When the Rebbe saw the little boy crying, he called him around to the side of his desk, placed his hands on his head and proceeded to bless him with the hallowed words of the priestly benediction: Yivarechacha Hashem V’Yishmerecha …
The story, Schochet asserted, has a broader meaning and lesson.
“Because somewhere out there is a Jewish child who is crying; sometimes, the tears are readily discernible; other times—indeed, most often—they’re crying internally, sometimes such that they themselves may be oblivious to their own tears,” declared Schochet. “On the surface, they look strong, forthright, determined, but somewhere deep within, at the core, their souls are crying out.”
This, he explained, was the charge the Rebbe had given to his emissaries around the world, to travel out to all four corners of the world and soothe the crying Jewish child, whether literal or figurative, wherever he or she may be.
In a video presentation that followed, the camera followed the journeys of Rabbi Yehuda Weg, co-director of Chabad of Oklahoma in Tulsa; Rabbi Zeev Stiefel, co-director of Chabad of Piestany, Slovakia; and Rabbi Mendy Chitrik of Chabad of Istanbul in Turkey. As the three-part video unfolded, the audience learned of the Jewish woman of Moroccan descent Weg discovered living on the dusty backroads of Oklahoma, the Slovakian Jew from Kosice who learned he was Jewish from his Holocaust-survivor grandmother on her deathbed and began growing closer to his Jewish roots via Stiefel, and the Turkish family that found out they were Jewish when their grandmother revealed that she, too, was a European Jew who had escaped to Turkey after the Holocaust to start a new life.
Ambassador David Friedman talking with Chabad Shaliach
“Ask yourself, where would the world be today without the Rebbe’s vision? We just saw evidence of Holocaust survivors, and no one will have shed more tears than them,” said Schochet. “After the ineffable events of 80 years ago, they sought to disappear—in Slovakia, in Turkey—and who can judge them? But then again, who would have gone looking for them? What would have become of them, of their children, of their grandchildren; what would have become of a lost Jewish girl in the backwaters of Oklahoma were it not for the irrational, supra-rational and unconditional devotion of every shliach and shlucha?”
The evening wrapped up with the yearly Roll Call, during which Kotlarsky read out the names of the 100 countries and all 50 states with permanent Chabad emissaries. Announcing a new Chabad center in Myanmar (once called Burma), as well as one in Turks and Caicos, a Carribean island known for its white beaches and blue water but not its Jewish infrastructure, Kotlarsky ended off with his now-trademark “A round of applause for the whole world!” before the room broke out into scheduled, but nonetheless very much spontaneous, dance.
As thousands danced through a maze of converging circles—ID tags and black hats bouncing to the upbeat sounds of Chassidic music—Ron Kramer of S. Monica, Calif., said it was this moment he had come for. Kramer, an entrepreneur with homes in Arizona and the beachside city of S. Monica, met Rabbi Eli Moshe Levitansky, co-director of Chabad of S. Monica College (SMC) nine years ago, when they began a weekly Torah-study session. This is his sixth Kinus, and if anything encapsulates why he keeps coming back, it’s the dancing
“I come to get the essence,” he said. “I come to feel the energy.”
L to R: AIFL Executive Director Wayne L. Firestone, AIFL US Chairman of the Board Eric J. Gertler, AIFL President Jonathan Barsade, Honorees Lilach Asher-Topilsky, Israel Discount Bank President & CEO, and Josh Weston, former CEO of Automatic Data Processing (ADP), and AIFL Israel Chairman of the Board Ambassador Dan Gillerman at AIFL’s 2019 Partners for Democracy Awards Dinner. Photo credit: Shahar Azran
L to R: AIFL President Jonathan Barsade, AIFL Israel Chairman of the Board Ambassador Dan Gillerman and AIFL US Chairman of the Board Eric Gertler (far right); holding the Kenneth J. Bialkin Leadership Award is Eric Friedman, Executive Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLC, who accepted the award on the firm’s behalf. Photo credit: Shahar Azran.
On November 11th, The America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL) celebrated its 2019 Partners for Democracy Awards Dinner by honoring Israel Discount Bank President & CEO, Lilach Asher-Topilsky, Honorary Chairman & former CEO of Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Josh S. Weston, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP. The ceremony, at Guastavino’s in midtown Manhattan, recognized the honorees for their significant contributions in supporting and strengthening the bond between the United States and Israel. Josh Weston and Lilach Asher-Topilsky were presented with AIFL’s Partners for Democracy Award for their roles in promoting economic and cultural ties between the two countries.
Israel Consul General to New York Ambassador Dani Dayon speaking at AIFL’s 2019 Partners for Democracy Awards Dinner. Photo credit: Shahar Azran
Weston said, “I fell in love with Israel more than 50 years ago and have made it my personal mission to help more people and business leaders engage with the country ever since. I find enormous gratification in making these introductions and in working with the AIFL to advance our shared purpose.” Weston is a life-long philanthropist who has supported Israel, science, education and the arts for decades. Asher-Topilsky said, “As CEO of a company with a significant subsidiary in the United States, I am proud to be receiving an honor from an organization whose mission is to promote an enduring friendship between Americans and Israelis. With our shared values and commitment to cultural exchange, transformative growth and representative democracy, the United States and Israel will continue their cherished relationship that has spanned more than 70 years.”
AIFL US Board Chairman Eric J. Gertler speaking at AIFL’s 2019 Partners for Democracy Awards Dinner. Photo credit: Shahar Azran
Asher-Topilsky is credited with helping Discount become the third largest banking group in Israel. AIFL also presented its inaugural Kenneth J. Bialkin Leadership Award to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP in recognition of the company’s efforts to promote commercial activity between the United States and Israel. This award also honors the legacy of the late AIFL Honorary Chairman, Kenneth Bialkin (z”l), who dedicated much of his career to supporting Israeli companies that emerged from the U.S. financial and commercial markets.
Skadden Executive Partner, Eric Friedman, said, “We are proud to be the inaugural recipient of AIFL’s award named in Ken Bialkin’s honor and thankful for the organization’s recognition of his extraordinary contributions to U.S.-Israeli relations.”
AIFL & SOSA at NASDAQ: On November 11, 2019, AIFL, in partnership with SOSA, opened the trading day at NASDAQ. AIFL Israel Board Chairman Ambassador Dan Gillerman (center right) and Israel Discount Bank President & CEO Lilach Asher-Toplisky (center left) surrounded by AIFL and SOSA leadership. Photo credit: Shahar Azran
Earlier today, AIFL, in partnership with SOSA, a global platform that connects corporations, governments and cities to the most innovative technologies, also held its Annual Israel Day at NASDAQ where Former Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, rang the opening bell, followed by a panel on cybersecurity. AIFL’s President, Jonathan Barsade, said, “AIFL is truly a unique organization introducing Americans to Israel not only by organizing and sponsoring trips to Israel for Americans, but also by bringing the business, cultural and scientific innovations that emanate from Israel to more than 300 million Americans across this country.
The AIFL named an award in Kenneth Bialkin’s memory and Skadden Arps partner Eric Friedman was the first recipient of i
Today’s events, from opening of trade at NASDAQ, to our new Israel at NASDAQ annual business conference, to this evening’s annual Gala, honoring exemplars of America-Israel friendship, are just a few examples of this outreach and the bond it helps to forge between Israel and the United States. We are honored that these luminaries are joining us in today’s celebrations to help us showcase the outstanding innovations from Israel that have an enormous impact on our world,” Barsade added. The America-Israel Friendship League was founded in 1971 with the goal of strengthening the relationship between the people of the United States and Israel. Today, AIFL is continuing the vision of its founders by introducing Americans of all ages, faiths, ethnic backgrounds and political orientations to the culture, entrepreneurship, medical research, agricultural technology, environmental protection initiatives other aspects of contemporary Israel
The Israeli athlete is discovering the Torah's wisdom on how to live in a more healthy, happy and balanced way. Photo Credit: Aish.com
By: Hillel Kuttler
Grasping a basketball in his enormous hands, Doron Sheffer looks slim and nimble enough to hit the court again as he greets a visitor to his home on Moshav Amirim. The glorious afternoon in this hilly community with breathtaking views of the Galilee’s mountains seems light years from the snow and chill of New England, where Sheffer played for three seasons for the University of Connecticut Huskies in the mid-1990s.
As a UConn guard, Sheffer fed the ball to such star teammates as Ray Allen (now with the NBA’s Miami Heat) and played for legendary coach Jim Calhoun. Sheffer averaged five assists and thirteen points per game, hit 40 percent of his three-point attempts and led the Huskies to a sparkling 89-13 record and NCAA tournament appearances in each of his three seasons. Sheffer was the first Israeli ever drafted by the NBA – the Los Angeles Clippers selected him in the second round in 1996 – but he instead signed a lucrative contract with Israel’s dynastic professional basketball team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, leading it to four consecutive national championships.
Raised in a secular home near Tel Aviv, Sheffer, 41, retired from basketball in 2008. Today, he sports a trim beard and a black-knit kippa rests on his head. A set of Talmud stands with other traditional texts lining his living room shelves. All attest to a changed man, someone who has evolved most strikingly in the past decade but whose shift in orientation began at UConn when his mother, Yael, mailed him a book about spirituality.
Raised in a secular home near Tel Aviv, Sheffer, 41, retired from basketball in 2008. Today, he sports a trim beard and a black-knit kippa rests on his head. A set of Talmud stands with other traditional texts lining his living room shelves.
Sheffer’s journey has featured dramatic mileposts: a sojourn to India, a successful battle with testicular cancer and several basketball comebacks. One such comeback, playing for Hapoel Jerusalem for two seasons beginning in 2003, proved pivotal because that is when Sheffer began wearing tefillin more regularly and reading Psalms. By the time he returned to Jerusalem in 2006, he had married his second wife, Talia, and together they decided to observe Shabbat, kashrut and family-purity laws and to start going to shul. He also began wearing a kippa and tzitzit and studying Talmud at the Ashrei Ha’Ish Yeshiva.
“It wasn’t a decision made in one day or one minute,” Sheffer explains. “At a certain point, though, I realized, ‘I’m going for it.’ There were rises and falls. I wore tefillin and stopped, learned Torah and stopped, observed Shabbat and stopped.”
Sheffer is sitting at a kitchen table in a guest apartment in the couple’s modern sun-drenched home where they run a business catering to people who come for healing of the body and mind.
Sheffer points to an Israeli woman and her daughter relaxing on a bench, a small fountain bubbling nearby amid a lovely garden of purple tulips and clusters of other flowers interspersed with rock paths. The mother has cancer, went through multiple operations and, losing hope, came to their retreat to rest and to contemplate, Sheffer says.
Played for the right reasons, Sheffer says, basketball is “a teacher of life,” imparting joy and inculcating in its practitioners the values of work, play and consistency.
Sheffer’s livelihood also comes from running youth basketball clinics that impart values and addressing various audiences in Israel and abroad about his life story. He’s synthesized those experiences and life lessons in an autobiography published in Hebrew. It’s titled Aneni, from David’s famous proclamation in Psalm (118:5) “Out of my distress I called upon the Lord; the Lord answered me [aneni] with liberation.”
Personally, Sheffer says, “I had distress, and God answered.”
One answer was Sheffer’s surviving cancer; another, Sheffer’s path toward observance and back to the region, far changed from the adolescent who headed north to play for the Hapoel Galil Elyon team in 1990 and concluded his career with the same club nearly two decades later.
Amirim consists primarily of nonobservant residents, with approximately twenty observant families. It was founded in 1958 as a retreat for vegetarians, and that ethic remains. Amirim’s entrance features a billboard speckled with more than 100 signs promoting the moshav’s businesses: aromatherapists, massage therapists, herb gardens, spas, a health food shop, an organic olive oil shop, art galleries, restaurants and plentiful bed and breakfasts.
“It’s a vegetarian community, which spoke to us,” Sheffer explains. “I eat healthily – organic fruits and vegetables, except for some occasional meat. Health of body and of soul – it’s all here. It does me good to eat healthy, to breathe clear air.”
A healthy soul includes Jewish learning, and classes are held most nights in residents’ homes. Many of Amirim’s observant families come from less observant backgrounds.
“To be a ba’al teshuvah is a way of life, a never-ending story: not too much, not too little; not to climb too high up the tree, but not to flee from it, always seeking balance,” he says.
“It’s a vegetarian community, which spoke to us,” Sheffer explains. “I eat healthily – organic fruits and vegetables, except for some occasional meat. Health of body and of soul – it’s all here. It does me good to eat healthy, to breathe clear air.”
The Sheffers have four children together: daughters Gavriel, eight, and Michael, seven, who were given the names of angels; a son, Yedidya, four; and another daughter, Yaara, three. Sheffer’s eldest child, Ori, eleven, resides primarily with her mother in Tel Aviv, but often comes to Amirim. Ori’s situation is unique, Sheffer says, because she lives with both observant and nonobservant parents.
The children constitute the Sheffers’ “starting five.”
“We don’t push. We give her freedom,” he says. “On Shabbat, if she wants to call her mom, we let her. We try not to push something before its time. Thankfully, she feels a part of our home and blends into our lifestyle.”
Not pushing children – when it comes to religion or to sports – is central to his philosophy. Screaming parents and coaches making demands on players, says Sheffer, constitute pressure points that sidetrack young athletes from the joys of competition.
But, played for the right reasons, he says, basketball is “a teacher of life,” imparting joy and inculcating in its practitioners the values of work, play and consistency. That is the approach Sheffer takes in promoting basketball to kids – what he dubs “basketball therapy.”
In comparison, “the Torah is the teacher of life,” he says. “The Torah includes everything. It gives me endless advice, tools and inspiration for how to live in a more healthy, happy and balanced way – in my married life, raising my kids, employment and faith. All in all, it helps me be a better human being.”
Sheffer rises. He has to head to Jerusalem, a three-hour drive, to address Hebrew University students, mostly nonobservant, who gather weekly for discussions on Jewish thought.
The Sheffers have four children together: daughters Gavriel, eight, and Michael, seven, who were given the names of angels; a son, Yedidya, four; and another daughter, Yaara, three. Sheffer’s eldest child, Ori, eleven, resides primarily with her mother in Tel Aviv, but often comes to Amirim.
In a university meeting room thirty-five students and a rabbi await. Sheffer strides to the front and softly relates his background, basketball career and battle with cancer. Finally, he tells of his search for meaning and his discovering it in living a religious life.
During the hour-long appearance, Sheffer quotes freely from NBA legends Pat Riley and Michael Jordan, along with Chazal, Chasidism, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov and Pirkei Avot. He acknowledges that religious observance stimulates ever-more questioning of a path fraught with continual challenges. He takes students’ questions: Are you happy? How did cancer shape your life? What about the stereotypes of newly observant Jews?
Afterward, a third-year engineering student, Luda Loginova, speaks of having gained from the presentation.
“It gives us inspiration that it’s possible to deal with any difficulty, make any change and try to be a better person,” she says. “He helped me think about things I don’t think about daily.”
Family ski trip at Camelback mountain. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
Edited by: TJV News
‘Tis the season for planning your next holiday escape with family, friends, or your special someone. The Pocono Mountains offer great holiday packages and special deals this time of year. Whether planning a day trip or an overnight getaway – our resorts, restaurants and downtowns are decking the halls all winter long.
Ski/Snowtubing Getaways
Visitors come from far and wide to the Pocono mountains for their snow boarding facilities. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
Winter has come ahead of schedule in the Pocono Mountains and some of the region’s ski resorts have started opening earlier than ever before! With 185 trails, the Poconos offer terrain for beginners and experts. The Poconos six ski areas all cater to families with kid-specific ski schools that make learning to ski or snowboard enjoyable. Teens who can’t get enough of rails and jumps will find plenty of terrain parks. No skis or snowboard? No problem! The resorts rental shops have you covered. All six resorts also have snowtubing hills that welcome young and old. Everyone’s fingers get cold at some point, and in the Poconos there’s still plenty to do once you leave the slopes.
Blue Mountain Resort
Skiing group in a chair lift at the Blue Mountain Resort in the Poconos. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
– Blue Mountain Resort has 40 ski trails, five terrain parks, 16 lifts and up to 34 snow tubing lanes. The mountain boasts the state’s highest vertical drop, 1,082 feet, for a thrilling downhill experience. Blue Mountain maintains Slopeside Pub & Grill, a full-service scenic mountaintop restaurant.
Camelback Mountain
Pictured here are a group of boys going snow tubing in the Poconos. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
– Camelback features 39 trails, 16 lifts and 100% snowmaking with the recent purchase of 377 new snow guns. The mountain boasts 15 acres of beginner terrain and award-winning instructional programs. Last season brought a brand-new terrain park and two restaurants with ski-in/out access. Camelback is also home to the biggest snow tubing park in the USA with up to 42 lightning-fast lanes, two magic carpets and Galactic Snowtubing after dark.
Big Boulder Ski Area
Scenic winter slopes at the Blue Mountain Resort in the Pocono mountains. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
– At Big Boulder Ski Area, you’ll find supreme skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing. With 16 slopes, Big Boulder devotes nearly 70% of its overall terrain to park features. The mountains of Jack Frost and Big Boulder complement one another and offer guests two discount experiences on the same lift ticket.
– Shawnee Mountain features 125 skiable acres, 23 trails, the Tomahawk Express high-speed quad lift, two terrain parks and a snow tubing park with 100% snowmaking and daily grooming. A family and beginner-friendly ski resort, Shawnee Mountain offers excellent children’s programs, complete beginners’ packages and some great terrain for the advanced skier and rider.
Ski Big Bear at Masthope Mountain
Ski school at Shawnee Mountain in the Poconos. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
– Specializing in private beginner lessons, Ski Big Bear offers something for all abilities. The mountain is open for skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing with 100% snowmaking. Eighteen trails, seven lifts and a terrain park provide great family winter recreation.
Indoor Waterpark Getaways
Skiing at Blue Mountain in the Poconos. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
The days of planning your family vacation around Mother Nature are over. Dubbed the Indoor Waterpark Capitol of the Northeast, the Pocono Mountains has you covered rain or shine! It’s always beach season at the region’s waterpark resorts, where you can swim, splash, play and stay any time of year.
Jack Frost Mountain
– With up to 20 pristine trails, Jack Frost Mountain provides a variety of inviting terrain. Runs range from beginner to black diamond. Two terrain parks are featured.
Camelback Lodge & Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark
Boys skiing at Blue Mountain in the Poconos. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
– With 453 spacious suites and 24 unique layouts to choose from, you’ll find the perfect option for your family of four or 14. Connected to Camelback Lodge is Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark, where you can experience gravity-defying, heart-pounding, smile-inducing water rides, swimming pools, Flow Rider surfing and more! Aquatopia is a 125,000-square-foot water-topia for year-round excitement. Camelback Lodge also features a mega-arcade, indoor laser tag, virtual reality experience, a three-story ropes course and rock climbing for hours of fun. Don’t forget about the great restaurants, bars, and spas—because every adventure needs an oasis!
Great Wolf Lodge
Winter slopes at Camelback Mountain in the Poconos. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
– Starting with zero-depth entry pools and play areas, and going up more than four stories to the start of Alberta Falls, you’ll find fifty-foot vertical drops, 180-degree spin outs, water roller coasters, family raft rides, pools, rivers, hot springs and cozy cabanas to hang out in. Add fantastic oversize suites, sensational dining options, magical games and nightly story times, and you have everything you need under one roof.
Kalahari Resorts & Conventions
Galactic snowtubing at Camelback Mountain in the Poconos. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
– With 220,000 square feet of wet and wild indoor fun, with a bonus outdoor park featuring a retractable roof, you’ll never have a dull moment with the rides, slides and pools in this park! At Kalahari Resorts and Conventions, you’ll be transported to an authentically African, world away, beyond expectations experience. Play away the days with family and friends, and rest in well-appointed guestrooms and suites. Enjoy an extreme Family Entertainment Center and arcade, full-service spa, fitness center, restaurants, retail shops and much more.
Split Rock Resort’s H2Oooohh! Indoor Waterpark
Kalahari Waterpark in the Poconos. Photo Credit: poconomountains.com
– Split Rock Resort’s H2Oooohh! Indoor Waterpark is the home of Pennsylvania’s first flow rider and includes the Island Oasis snack bar, wave pool, kid pool, Jungle play area with dumping bucket and three four-story tube slides! Your family will be entertained all vacation long with the resort’s ample amenities including the waterpark, arcade, cosmic bowling, movie theater and more.
Plan your itinerary and view upcoming holiday events on PoconoMountains.com. There, you can also find the most up-to-date information on ski resort opening dates and snow conditions.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst recently hosted a kickoff ceremony for the future construction of its Emergency Department (ED) expansion. Photo Credit: nychealthandhospitals.org
New York City Council, the Queens Borough President, NYC Health + Hospitals, and New York State’s DSRIP program provided funding for the expansion
Edited by: TJV Staff
NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst recently hosted a kickoff ceremony for the future construction of its Emergency Department (ED) expansion. The $43 million capital expansion project will include the renovation and redesign of the existing 28,900 square feet of space, along with the addition of a second story that will provide a new 19,400 square feet. The expansion will feature 33 new patient rooms within the adult ED space, which includes rooms dedicated to bariatric, special pathogens, and critical care isolation. Space will also be made for 25 patient bays, 19 surge bed capable locations and an expanded 10 bed critical care/trauma space, up from seven currently.
The new second floor to the ED will accommodate the hospital’s Adult and Child Emergency Psychiatry and Partial Hospitalization programs. The space will incorporate a state-of the-art Stroke Center, featuring an advanced medical imaging unit that will allow the hospital to expedite life-saving care for stroke patients. Funding for the project was provided by the New York City Council, the Queens Borough President, NYC Health + Hospitals, and New York State’s DSRIP program. The expansion is scheduled to begin in late spring of 2020 and be substantially completed by April 2023.
“As one of the busiest Emergency Departments in the city, the renovations, expansion, and new state-of-the-art technology that’s coming to NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst is critical in continuing to care for New Yorkers, especially in the event of a life-threatening event,” said President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals Mitchell Katz, MD.
“NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst provides emergency medical services to tens of thousands of people living in central and western Queens and surrounding communities, and so we are truly excited to begin a renovation that will dramatically enhance the experience patients have when they come to our Emergency Department,” said Vice President of NYC Health + Hospitals and Elmhurst CEO Israel Rocha. “Our Emergency Department’s more efficient design flow, and the addition of modern, state-of-the art imaging equipment, will reduce patient wait times and improve the overall patient experience for the population we serve.”
“We are enormously grateful to the New York City Council and the Queens Borough President for their support for this project,” said Director of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst’s Emergency Department Stuart Kessler, MD.” “Our ED team looks forward to being able to continue providing high-quality care in a facility that more efficient and patient-centered.”
Additional features of the new Emergency Department space will include:
A digital x-ray unit located within the adult ED that will vastly improve patient wait tie for imaging;
Six private rooms, designed to secure patients who require close supervision, such as those on suicide watch; and
Nursing and administrative support space, which will feature better designed layouts of nursing stations with direct view of patients, improved triage flow, additional team huddle space, and private consult spaces, conference and break room spaces.
“This expansion of NYC Health +Hospitals/Elmhurst’s Emergency Department will be a great boon to this hospital’s continuing commitment to meet the health care needs of our borough’s growing families,” said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz. “This expansion will create a modern and spacious facility that will provide state-of-the-art care to those seeking emergency attention. It has been a privilege for the Queens Borough President’s office to join with NYC Health + Hospitals, the New York City Council and the New York State DSRIP program in funding this vitally important expansion.”
“The expansion of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst’s emergency care unit will benefit our community for years to come,” said NYC Council Finance Chair Daniel Dromm. “It will mean more efficient and specialized care for my constituents, and will also significantly reduce wait times. I am proud to have worked alongside NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson to allocate the funding needed to realize this important project. Fortifying our local hospitals will always be a top priority of mine.”
“I was pleased to support this capital project, which will enable the NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst to provide enhanced emergency room and emergency psychiatry care services for the residents of Queens County,” said Councilmember Karen Koslowitz.
“NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst does an outstanding job serving the residents of Elmhurst and those in surrounding communities, and this renovated emergency department will help its staff do an even better job in providing exceptional care to patients,” said Congresswoman Grace Meng. “It will include an additional 10,000 square feet of space and many enhancements and improvements. I’m proud to take part in today’s kickoff ceremony, and look forward to this soon-to-be expanded facility opening its doors to the public in the very near future.”
“The Emergency Department at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst has been burdened by increasing demand from our growing community and the closure of other hospitals in the area,” said Assemblyman Michael G. DenDekker. “I am pleased that NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst is expanding its Emergency Department and adding cutting-edge technology to help patients. This, in tandem with the opening of a new primary care center, will improve the level of care that the hospital administers to our neighbors.”
NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst sees approximately 120,000 adult and pediatric visits to its Emergency Department annually, making it one of the busiest ED in the nation. As part of its Emergency Room system, Elmhurst also has an American College of Surgeons Verified Level 1 Trauma Center that provides 24-hour in-house coverage by trauma surgeons, and prompt availability of care in specialties such as orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, radiology, and critical care.
In September, NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst hosted a kickoff ceremony for construction of its new ambulatory surgery center, building on the hospital’s goals of providing efficient, high-quality care to patients. The $5.5 Million capital expansion project, funded by the New York City Council, will feature 5,000 square feet of additional space, and includes a new operating room, four procedure rooms, 18 pre- and post-procedure beds, and comfortable waiting areas. It is scheduled to be completed in spring 2021. Additionally, the hospital also opened a new 6,500 square feet outpatient Medical Primary Care Center in June 2019 designed to reduce waiting times, increase patient satisfaction and allow clinicians to see an additional 10,000 patients a year.
For more information regarding NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst’s programs and services, please visit nychealthandhospitals.org/Elmhurst or call 718 334-4000.
Turkish F-16 jets flew low Monday across the Turkish capital, in a two-day exercise reportedly to test the radar system newly acquired Russian S-400 missile system. Photo Credit: hurriyetdailynews.com
Turkey and the United States are seemingly closer to a collision course as Turkish media report Ankara testing a Russian anti-aircraft weapon system, despite threats of Washington sanctions.
By: Dorian Jones
Turkish F-16 jets flew low Monday across the Turkish capital, in a two-day exercise reportedly to test the radar system newly acquired Russian S-400 missile system.
Ankara’s purchase of the S-400s is a significant point of tension with Washington, which claims the system poses a threat to NATO’s defenses.
“There is room for Turkey to come back to the table. They know that to make this work, they need to either destroy or return or somehow get rid of the S-400,” a senior State Department official told reporters at a briefing Wednesday.
The official added that sanctions could follow if Ankara went ahead and activated the system.
Ankara’s purchase of the S-400 system violated U.S. Congress’s Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Despite September’s delivery of the S-400s, Washington appeared to step back, indicating that sanctions would only be imposed if Ankara activated the system.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar reiterated Ankara’s stance, however, that the S-400 poses no threat to NATO systems.
“That’s what we have been saying since the beginning [of the dispute with the [U.S.]. [S-400s] will definitely be a ‘stand-alone’ system. We are not going to integrate this with the NATO systems in any way. It will operate independently,” Akar said Monday.
There is mounting frustration in Ankara with Washington over its stance, given President Barack Obama’s failure to sell U.S. Patriot missiles to Turkey.
“Russia has missiles, so do Iraq, Iran, Syria. So why doesn’t the U.S. doesn’t give us the patriot missile,” said Professor Mesut Casin, a Turkish presidential foreign policy adviser.
“Then we buy Russian S-400, and then you say you are the bad guy, you don’t obey the regulations, NATO principles, you buy Russian missiles.”
Monday’s testing of the S-400 radar system is widely seen as a challenge to Washington. Analysts claim it will likely add to calls in Congress to impose CAATSA sanctions and other measures against Turkey.
Sweeping new economic and political sanctions against Turkey are currently in Congress awaiting ratification.
“Congress is somehow has become so anti-Turkish. We have only a few friends remaining in the Congress,” said former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende. “It so difficult to understand how they become so anti-Turkish so emotional.”
“CAATSA sanctions are waiting, and they are fundamentally important for the Turkish economy,” warned Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
The Turkish economy is still recovering from a currency crash two years ago, triggered by previous U.S. sanctions.
Ankara will likely be looking to President Donald Trump to blunt any new efforts to impose sanctions against Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seen to have built a good relationship with Trump.
Earlier this month, Trump hosted Erdogan in the White House for what he called a “wonderful meeting.”
“Turkish relations is so reduced to these two guys [Erdogan and Trump],” said Aydintasbas. “The entire relationship is built on this relationship and will rely on Trump to restrict Congress’s authority and make those bills go away.”
However, Ankara’s test Monday of S-400 components will make it unlikely Washington will end a freeze on the sale of the F-35 jet.
Trump blocked the Turkish sale, over concerns the fighter jet’s stealth technology could be compromised by the Russian missile’s advanced radar system.
The F-35 sale is set to replace Turkey’s aging fleet of F-16s. Ankara is warning it could turn to Russia’s SU 35 as an alternative.
“All should be aware that Turkey will have to look for alternatives if F-35s [fighter jets] cannot be acquired for any reason,” Akar said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is courting Erdogan in a move widely seen as attempting to undermine NATO.
The two presidents are closely cooperating in Syria despite backing rival sides in the Syrian civil war. Bilateral trading ties are also deepening primarily around energy.
Analysts point out a large-scale purchase of Russian jets will likely have far-reaching consequences beyond Ankara’s S-400 procurement.
Training of Turkish pilots for the SU 35 would be in Moscow, as opposed to decades of U.S. training, while Turkey could find itself excluded from joint air exercises with its NATO partners.
Ankara, too, is warning Washington of severe consequences if it has to turn to Moscow to meet its defense requirements.
“Turkey will buy Russian aircraft if the F-35 freeze is not lifted,” said Casin. “If this happens, Turkey will not buy any more U.S. combat aircraft. This will be the end of the Turkish-U.S. relationship. I think like this; I am very serious.”
Putin is due to meet Erdogan in Turkey in January, an opportunity the Russian president is expected to use to try and confirm the SU 35 sale. (VOA News)
Residents of the Jewish Quarter are preparing for widespread protests following the renovation and reopening of the Sidna Omar mosque in the heart of the Quarter and near the Hurva synagogue. Photo by Elron Zabatani/TPS on 25 November, 2019
Residents of the Jewish Quarter are preparing for widespread protests following the renovation and reopening of the Sidna Omar mosque in the heart of the Quarter and near the Hurva synagogue, TPS has learned.
By: Aryeh Savir
The mosque, also known as the “Jewish Mosque,” has been closed for decades and will open to Muslim worshipers in the coming weeks after undergoing renovations paid for by Jordan. This development has become a source of great concern in the Jewish Quarter and among Jewish communities in Jerusalem and abroad.
Over the weekend, representatives of a newly-established action committee and rabbis convened for a meeting in which they concluded that “the evil of decree must be annulled, and efforts should commence to hold a dialogue with Waqf to prevent an outburst.”
Residents of the Jewish Quarter told TPS that they are outraged at the incompetence of the Israeli authorities, and especially the Jerusalem municipality, which they said has known about the renovations but has taken no action. Likewise, the police admitted that they knew about the renovations but did not comment or act on the matter.
Another one of the leading rabbis expressed strong opposition to the government’s silence.
The members of the committee expressed concern over the possible installation of the green lighting on the mosque’s minaret, which is common to mosques and represents Islam. The leaders described it as a ” stab in the eye.”
Authorities have reportedly intervened in the matter and are seeking to ensure that no loudspeaker for the muezzin or green lighting is installed on the mosque.
The mosque is located in the heart of the Jewish Quarter, on the main road to the Western Wall and in close proximity to several yeshivas, and the possibility of Muslim prayers there generating apprehension in the area.
“It is unthinkable that when tens of thousands of Jewish worshippers come to pray at the Jewish Quarter, prayers will be held in the mosque, especially during Ramadan,” committee members told TPS. One member of the committee asked at the meeting “what will happen on Yom Kippur and Ramadan prayers?”
“We cannot accept a muezzin praying at the mosque’s spire which is only 15 meters away from the Hurva. Someone here went crazy and will lead to violence, “said Elhanan Levy, a yeshiva student who lives in the Quarter. “Does anyone think it would be appropriate for us to pray at the al-Aqsa complex?”
Several residents in the Quarter are calling for immediate action against the mosque and against Muslim prayers.
In the meantime, mediation efforts and talks with Muslim public figures and representatives of Waqf have commenced. The action committee hopes that the efforts will bear fruit in the coming days and will prevent the deterioration of the situation in the Quarter and the entire Old City.
“We are good, neighborly, and peaceful people and expect our Muslim neighbors not to hurt the feelings of the Jewish worshipers. We would not have thought of setting up a synagogue right next to the al-Aqsa Mosque,” says Rabbi Ephraim, a member of the action committee.
TPS has learned that Jordan intends to renovate more Muslim sites in the Old City, assisted by the Al Quds Commission, which is sponsored by the King of Morocco, including the Yaaqubi Mosque, and the Omar Ben-Khatab Mosque adjacent to the Holy Sepulcher.
The Sidna Omar mosque was built in the 14th century adjacent to the Ramban synagogue and was instrumental in causing the synagogue’s shutdown.
During the Six-Day War, the mosque’s minaret was hit by gunfire and renovated in 1974. Its structure is typical of the Mamluk period and raises two stories high with a porch to the muezzin. (TPS)
During the NewsNight interview conducted by a BBC reporter, the Duke of York did not say that he regretted having forged a friendship with Epstein, nor did he express any compassion or sympathy for Epstein’s victims. Photo Credit: Getty - Contributor
It’s not Macbeth, but it’s in the ballpark.
According to reports coming out of England, Prince William played a pivotal role in dumping Prince Andrew from his royal duties.
By: Geraldo Espinoza
Andrew, 59, was canned last week after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, told insiders she felt “hoodwinked” by his disastrous BBC interview over his ties to late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, according to The Times of London.
“William is becoming more and more involved in decisions about the institution [monarchy] and he’s not a huge fan of his uncle Andrew,” a source close to the royals told The Times of London. “William thinks the right thing happened.”
Buckingham Palace “confirmed on Sunday that the Duke of York was “standing back from all his patronages” but indicated he still hoped to return to a public role at some point by saying the move was only temporary,” reported theguardian.com.
The possibly pervy prince “said last week that he was willing to help ‘any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations [into Epstein] if required.’ But the fallout from his friendship with the convicted child sex offender, who is believed to have killed himself in a New York prison in August, has already seen him lose or withdraw from patronages with English National Ballet, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Outward Bound Trust,” theguardian.com added.
During the NewsNight interview conducted by a BBC reporter, the Duke of York did not say that he regretted having forged a friendship with Epstein, nor did he express any compassion or sympathy for Epstein’s victims. He also said that even after Epstein was convicted of having sexual relations with a minor, he decided to take up Epstein’s invitation to stay at his Manhattan mansion.
In a somewhat bizarre twist, Prince Andrew said that due to a rare medical condition, he was unable to physically break a sweat. He mentioned this in response to the interviewer’s question about whether he danced with an underage girl in a London nightclub and began sweating afterwards as the young woman had charged.
The beleaguered prince is “not above the law” and has no diplomatic or sovereign immunity over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, it can be revealed,” reported The Sun. “The Duke has been urged to put himself forward to be quizzed by US investigators who are looking into allegations against convicted sex offender Epstein. It is understood Andrew is not eligible for sovereign immunity as only the Queen is entitled to that category.”
Worse still, the royals have had to cancel a party. “The Queen has scrapped plans to host a party for Prince Andrew to mark his 60th birthday in February,” reported dailymail.com. “Instead, the monarch is said to be arranging a small family dinner for the Duke, according to The Sunday Times. His birthday is on February 19. The news comes just days after the Queen effectively sacked him from his royal duties at the behest of her eldest son in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. It has also emerged that Andrew’s bungled BBC Newsnight interview was not sanctioned in advance by the Queen.”
